Ellis Island Nation: Immigration Policy and American Identity in the Twentieth Century

“Ellis Island nation,” a phrase not found in the text, refers to immigrants from eastern and southern Europe and their descendants. Using a familiar narrative the book traces the changes in American immigration policy from the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act through the adoption of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. More an account of attitudes toward immigration than the details of policy, the book's innovation is what Robert L. Fleegler labels “contributionism.” Although his neologism appears on more than fifty pages and in three chapter titles, the closest approach to a definition comes in the epilogue.

Fleegler believes that he is describing an ideology of extraordinary power: “This new ideology, which I call ‘contributionism,’ shaped Americans' beliefs about both immigration and the contours...

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