Description
Book SynopsisCulling the Masses questions the view that democracy and racism cannot coexist. Based on records from 22 countries 1790-2010, it offers a history of the rise and fall of racial selection in the Western Hemisphere, showing that democracies were first to select immigrants by race, and undemocratic states first to outlaw discrimination.
Trade ReviewCulling the Masses is a book of impressive analytical and empirical scope. It consists of truly comparative cross-national research and analysis, examining immigration politics and policy in no fewer than six countries in the Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Mexico, and the United States. It asks important questions about the troubling relationship between racism and democracy. Specifically, it addresses two significant puzzles: why did immigration policy come under the spell of eugenics in the first decades of the twentieth century—and how did an anti-racist turn emerge in later decades, first in the weaker and more authoritarian nations of the Americas before finding its way to the stronger and more liberal-democratic regimes, Canada and the United States? A must read for anyone interested in race, immigration, and democratization. -- Daniel J. Tichenor, University of Oregon
The first book to offer a truly hemispheric and historical perspective on immigration policy. It also offers a high level of analytical integration. It is impressively and delightfully erudite, written with elegance, and argued with both subtlety and vigor. -- José C. Moya, Barnard College of Columbia University
