A provocative and immensely helpful book, Unequal Schools is also a handbook for participatory practices in fostering social and economic growth in both developing and seemingly developed nations. It is a volume that can be used in undergraduate courses in Latin American history, government, or economics, and a work that could be definitive in graduate education courses. In Unequal Schools, Unequal Chances, Fernando Reimers has added another project to his agenda of participatory solutions to third world problems: here the issue of equity and equal opportunity that education can offer to social and economic development. Reimers offers both a highly original vision and a continuation of the important research agendas begun in the late 1950s and early 60s by Noel McGinn, et al at the Harvard GSOE. As befits a participatory philosophy, Reimers includes multiple perspectives on each country/region, mixing local and outside views of the area and topics. This edited volume includes carefully selected, quantitatively based research from across the Americas. The tables, charts, and graphing are valuable as quantitative descriptions of places and topics not commonly available to students or scholars. Enrollment figures are generally available in Latin America, although they do not always accurately describe what they purport to describe. Here these standard data are coupled with measures of inequality and other social, economic, and academic data. International tests, measures and analytic descriptors of spending, as well as comparative social indicators explain and enhance the work here, informing student and academic alike. These combine with often compelling photos of students and locations to underline the message of the text. Reimers himself describes the theoretical premises and the limits faced by the authors. He is apologetic for being so involved personally in an edited volume: he writes three of the introductory chapters and the conclusion. However, it would be hard for Reimers to step aside in a work that is the most recent culmination of his twenty-year research agenda. In two well-written and interesting chapters he explains the why and what prescribed by educational opportunity in this hemisphere. Reimers knows the interconnection of education, poverty and inequality in the Americas, and he defines these elements in their paradoxical relationship: "In the presence of growing levels of educational opportunity and attainment ... [there are] growing levels of income inequality and very severe, persistent poverty" (page 5). This paradox is the research driven knowledge that development requires an educated population, at least workforce, yet the reality that most of these societies preserve structure that screen people out of the educational system. Unequal Schools describes a basic conflict between educational success and failure often created by the social and economic context of the student. The research shows that poverty leads to lowered opportunity in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and the United States. These countries represent 474 million people and 61% of the population of the Americas. Policy may not represent reality, particularly in describing what happens to poor children in school, but it has often been successful in improving the conditions and schools that these children attend. The opening section of the book also includes chapters by Charles Willie and Donald Winkler, both are old hands in the equity discussion. Willie's emphasis on raising the levels by raising all boats - not the water - is based upon his observation that too many have drowned by the rising tide in the past. Winkler, a scholar of Latin America, discusses the framework for classifying approaches for improving the education of poor children and schools, defining the theoretical landscape. The choice of Argentina underlines the inherent paradox in the book's theme, yet also shows the possibility of expanding opportunity through policy choices. Two chapters on Chile show successes in linking educational goals and public policy. A single chapter on Colombia describes a similar premise. Mexico dominates the middle end of the book. It is evident that Mexico holds an important position as evidence of the success of policy when responding to research! Sylvia Schmelkes details the gap between improving statistics and a continuing growing inequity. Peru is used to study the role of educational finance in fostering educational inequality. The evidence is damning. One of the fascinating elements of this book is the inclusion of the United States. A full chapter, by Gary Orfield, discusses those parts of the US where continuing, even institutionalized poverty mirrors the impact of third world poverty and its equity void. He questions the use of the United States as a world model when so much inequality remains embedded in the system. Orfield offers quantitative evidence the mid-twentieth century of the persistence of inequality and the failure to alleviate those conditions in an economy without real excuses for its failure. Unequal Schools, Unequal Opportunities fulfills its goals. It provides the evidence to define its context. It also examines and describes successful policy. What is most clear is that the problems have always overwhelmed the effort to resolve them, and in all cases it has been the poor who have suffered the consequences. Equity has deprived the poor, but it has deprived the nation of their talents. The bottom line this book offers is that the need to solve the problems of poverty coexists with the problems of staffing, facilities, and curriculum that may characterize poor schools. Equity is a social and economic problem that becomes an educational issue. The schools exist within a specific context, and are effected by--often determined by--its conditions. Unequal Schools offers data and suggestions for a wholistic approach to making education a positive tool for social and economic development. It is not limited to the developing world, or to Latin America, although that is its focus.

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.

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.

I read this book last week for a history class. Supposedly it's THE undergraduate text in immigration history, but I don't really know why. While I admit that it covers an amazing amount of history and information, it lacks organization which makes it very boring and difficult to follow at points. While it's still worth reading for its content, there must be something better out there.

Dinnerstein and Reimers presents a comprehensive overview of immigrants in the United States from 1607 until the present. Ethnic Americans covers the triumph and struggle of European, Latin America, Asian immigrants as they seek social, economic and political freedom in the United States. Examines the assimilation of immigrants despite facing racism and prejudice in the new world. This book is truly a historical, scholarly work but a readable book for everyone interested in the history of immigrants in the United States.

The Way We Lived is a good book for anyone who is interested in American History. I have read serveral chapters of it and I feel that it's a level of understanding for everyone. If you're looking for background information, this book is great. Also, this is a good book for students who are interested in learning the background situations that have occurred in our history.