Strangers in the Land
464 pages, 5 7/8 x 9
Paperback
Release Date:01 Mar 2002
ISBN:9780813531236
Strangers in the Land
Patterns of American Nativism, 1860-1925
By John Higham
Rutgers University Press
Higham's work stands as the seminal work in the history of American nativism. The work is a careful, well-documented study of nationalism and ethnic prejudice, and chronicles the power and violence of these two ideas in American society from 1860 to 1925. He significantly moves beyond previous treatments of nativism, both in chronology and in interpretive sophistication. Higham defines nativism as a defensive type of nationalism or an intense opposition to an internal minority on the grounds of the group's foreign connections. By defining nativism as a set of attitudes or a state of mind, he sets the course for his book as tracing "trace an emotionally charged impulse" rather than "an actual social process or condition." As he argues that the ideological content of nativism remained consistent, he uses emotional intensity as a measure to trace in detail public opinion from the relative calm following the Civil War to the Johnson-Reed act of 1924 that severely limited European immigration.
Strangers in the Land is, then, a history of public opinion, whose purpose is to show how nativism evolved in society and in action. Higham seeks to explain what could inflame xenophobia and who resisted it. He saw his work as part of a renewed interest in the study of nationalism following the national upheavals in the wake of the McCarthy hearings. Surely Higham's mentor at the University of Wisconsin, intellectual historian Merle Curti, influenced Higham's approach in seeking to examine the power of nationalism as an idea. Also influential was the intellectual climate of the 1950s with its of distrust of ideology and distain of prejudice. Higham admits being repelled by the nationalist delusions of the Cold War, again helping to explain why his study concentrates on seeking some explanation for the irrational and violent outbreaks. The book thus focuses on points of conflict, "antagonisms that belong within ideologies of passionate national consciousness." For example, Higham's explains the 100 percent American movement in terms of progressive ideals and the desire of Americans to shape immigrants into a particular ideal of "Americanness" through education and assimilation. This intellectual construct eventually gave way to the racial thinking to which Higham assigns much influence in the efforts to restrict immigration. Ideology is also central to his chapter on the history of the idea of racism in which he argues that Anglo-Saxon nationalism, literary naturalism and a nascent understanding of genetics combined to bring forth arguments for immigration restriction to preserve the racial purity of the American people. Thus, key for Higham's argument is the power of ideas in shaping individual behavior and thereby shaping history.
This text is an absolute must-read for anyone seeking to understand American nativism and the darker side of nationalism.
Strangers in the Land is, then, a history of public opinion, whose purpose is to show how nativism evolved in society and in action. Higham seeks to explain what could inflame xenophobia and who resisted it. He saw his work as part of a renewed interest in the study of nationalism following the national upheavals in the wake of the McCarthy hearings. Surely Higham's mentor at the University of Wisconsin, intellectual historian Merle Curti, influenced Higham's approach in seeking to examine the power of nationalism as an idea. Also influential was the intellectual climate of the 1950s with its of distrust of ideology and distain of prejudice. Higham admits being repelled by the nationalist delusions of the Cold War, again helping to explain why his study concentrates on seeking some explanation for the irrational and violent outbreaks. The book thus focuses on points of conflict, "antagonisms that belong within ideologies of passionate national consciousness." For example, Higham's explains the 100 percent American movement in terms of progressive ideals and the desire of Americans to shape immigrants into a particular ideal of "Americanness" through education and assimilation. This intellectual construct eventually gave way to the racial thinking to which Higham assigns much influence in the efforts to restrict immigration. Ideology is also central to his chapter on the history of the idea of racism in which he argues that Anglo-Saxon nationalism, literary naturalism and a nascent understanding of genetics combined to bring forth arguments for immigration restriction to preserve the racial purity of the American people. Thus, key for Higham's argument is the power of ideas in shaping individual behavior and thereby shaping history.
This text is an absolute must-read for anyone seeking to understand American nativism and the darker side of nationalism.
This book attempts a general history of the anti-foreign spirit that I have defined as nativism. It tries to show how American nativism evolved its own distinctive patterns, how it has ebbed and flowed under the pressure of successive impulses in American history, how it has fared at every social level and in every section where it left a mark, and how it has passed into action. Fundamentally, this remains a study of public opinion, but I have sought to follow the movement of opinion wherever it led, relating it to political pressures, social organization, economic changes, and intellectual interests.
An exciting, mature volume, a tightly knit narrative that progresses with all the momentum of adventure fiction, the sparkling prose of a gifted writer, the sweeping generalization of a seasoned scholar. It is a stimulating appraisal of one phase of the American mind during its growth to maturity.
. . . a brilliantly executed study . . . an exceedingly able piece of historical research and analysis.
. . . a tempered handling of a passionate theme . . . an important contribution.
HighamÆs scholarly study of the ebb and flow of restrictive immigration since the Civil War has succeeded so admirably that it truly illuminates our times.
John Higham taught at the University of California at Los Angeles, Rutgers, Columbia, and the University of Michigan before returning to teach at his alma mater, Johns Hopkins, as John Martin Vincent Professor of History in 1971. He was the author of Hanging Together: Unity and Diversity in American Culture (2001).
Preface to the 2002 Edition
Chapter 1. Patterns in the Making
Chapter 2. The Age of Confidence
Chapter 3. Crisis in the Eighties
Chapter 4. The Nationalist Nineties
Chapter 5. The Return of Confidence
Chapter 6. Toward Racism: The History of an Idea
Chapter 7. The Loss of Confidence
Chapter 8. War and Revolution
Chapter 9. Crusade for Americanization
Chapter 10. The Tribal Twenties
Chapter 11. Closing the Gates
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliographical note
Index
Chapter 1. Patterns in the Making
Chapter 2. The Age of Confidence
Chapter 3. Crisis in the Eighties
Chapter 4. The Nationalist Nineties
Chapter 5. The Return of Confidence
Chapter 6. Toward Racism: The History of an Idea
Chapter 7. The Loss of Confidence
Chapter 8. War and Revolution
Chapter 9. Crusade for Americanization
Chapter 10. The Tribal Twenties
Chapter 11. Closing the Gates
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliographical note
Index
