All the Nations Under Heaven: An Ethnic and Racial History of New York City

By Robert Snyder

Book Overview

In certain neighborhoods of New York City, an immigrant may live out his or her entire life without even becoming fluent in English. From the Russians of Brooklyn's Brighton Beach to the Dominicans of Manhattan's Washington Heights, New York is arguably the most ethnically diverse city in the world. Yet no wide-ranging ethnic history of the city has ever been attempted. In All the Nations Under Heaven , Frederick Binder and David Reimers trace the shifting tides of New York's ethnic past, from its beginnings as a Dutch trading outpost to the present age where Third World immigration has given the population a truly global character. All the Nations Under Heaven explores the processes of cultural adaptation to life in New York, giving a lively account of immigrants new and old, and of the streets and neighborhoods they claimed and transformed. All the Nations Under Heaven provides a comprehensive look at the unique cultural identities that have wrought changes on the city over nearly four centuries since Europeans first landed on the Atlantic shore. While detailing the various efforts to retain a cultural heritage, the book also looks at how ethnic and racial groups have interacted--and clashed--over the years. From the influx of Irish and Germans in the nineteenth century to the recent arrival of Caribbean and Asian ethnic groups in large numbers, All the Nations Under Heaven explores the social, cultural, political, and economic lives of immigrants as they sought to form their own communities and struggled to define their identities within the grwonig heterogeneity of New York. In this timely, provocative book, Binder and Reimers offer insight into the cultural mosaic of New York at the turn of the millennium, where despite a civic pride that emphasizes the goals of diversity and tolerance, racial and ethnic conflict continue to shatter visions of peaceful coexistence.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231078781
• ISBN13: 9780231078788
• Release Date: July 1995
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 353 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.3"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

An immigrant history of New York City

I read this book as part of a graduate course on the history of New York City atLong Island University in Brooklyn, N.Y. This book tries to include brief and factual history of all of N.Y.'s immigrant groups. It also covers the various waves of immigration. A good book for a multicultural perspective on New York City.

Informative account of New York City Immigration

In this extremely well-researched book, Reimers and Binder attempt a task of Herculean difficulty: condensing over three centuries of New York City's immigration history into a 330 page book. Despite the inevitable shortcomings, their work puts forth a cohesive synthesis of the immigrant struggle in a bustling metropolis. Beginning with the Dutch settlements of the 1620's and ending with a general commentary on the state of NYC immigration in the present, the authors chronicle a tale of general stability in the face of internal fluctuation. Reading this book, one can't help but remember the old adage--the more things change, the more they stay the same--and the description fits the story of NYC immigration perfectly. Cyclical in nature, the history of New York's immigration is one of hard labor, (geographic)displacement of a previous immigrant group and a general assimilation of culture--usually in that order. Professors Reimers and Binder show us that although the face of New York City immigration may periodically change, the immigrant struggles and reality of urban life never do.