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Once the prime destination for westward-moving young Americans, California has become a magnet for a new wave of migration in recent years. Changes in immigration law and the ebbs and flows of the increasingly global economy have led to an unprecedented influx of newcomers from every continent and ...

Once the prime destination for westward-moving young Americans, California has become a magnet for a new wave of migration in recent years. Changes in immigration law and the ebbs and flows of the increasingly global economy have led to an unprecedented influx of newcomers from every continent and every cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic group. How has the demographic structure of California changed in the past 15 years? What are the social and spatial consequences of this transformation? Where are the new immigrants living, and how successfully are they realizing their versions of the American dream? Examining the impact of large-scale immigration on local communities, this book presents an in-depth geographical case study of the most active "melting pot" in the United States today.

Situating migration in its social and economic contexts, Clark traces changes in United States immigration policy over the course of the twentieth century and considers implications for how we think about assimilation, pluralism, and American identity. The book then provides an overview of why contemporary immigrants come to California and who these individuals are. Examining the aggregate consequences of immigration upon California neighborhoods, cities, and counties, Clark traces the impact of migration on levels of fertility, poverty, and educational goals and attainment in different localities. Detailed findings are presented on patterns of skills, earnings, and public assistance, both for recent immigrants as a whole and for Mexican and Central American, Asian, and Middle Eastern immigrants as discrete groups. Additional topics covered include pathways to home ownership, challenges facingCalifornia's educational system, and political issues and trends.

A reasoned assessment of the costs and benefits of contemporary migration to California, Clark's analysis also has far-reaching implications for immigration debates c

"Hayes-Bautista has long argued that Latinos in the United States, generally, and Mexican Americans, specifically, are members of a civil society--and not some dysfunctional minority group, as commonly imagined. As Americans lately have discovered America within the Americas, Hayes-Bautista now ...

"Hayes-Bautista has long argued that Latinos in the United States, generally, and Mexican Americans, specifically, are members of a civil society--and not some dysfunctional minority group, as commonly imagined. As Americans lately have discovered America within the Americas, Hayes-Bautista now gives us an excellent guide to the nation's future, by describing the new possibility of California--the largest Hispanic state in the union."--Richard Rodriguez, author of "Brown: The Last Discovery of America

"For more than two decades, Hayes-Bautista has been on the forefront of social scientists researching the developing Latino identity of California. The cumulative result is "La Nueva California, a tour de force of social science, enlivened by convincing detail, historical imagination, prophetic power, and--above all else--great hope."--Kevin Starr, author of "Americans and the California Dream series

"For more than a decade, David Hayes-Bautista has accurately charted the trajectory of the New California. He is the best qualified scholar to explain the pattern of Latino growth in California and its importance for California as a whole. His analysis is persuasive and sets forth constructive initiatives to allow the Latino presence in California to be a positive force for sustaining California as a state of opportunity and achievement."--Henry Cisneros, Chairman and CEO, American CityVista

Fifty years ago, John Steinbeck's now classic novel, The Grapes of Wrath, captured the epic story of an Oklahoma farm family driven west to California by dust storms, drought, and economic hardship. It was a story that generations of Americans have also come to know through Dorothea Lange's ...

Fifty years ago, John Steinbeck's now classic novel, The Grapes of Wrath, captured the epic story of an Oklahoma farm family driven west to California by dust storms, drought, and economic hardship. It was a story that generations of Americans have also come to know through Dorothea Lange's unforgettable photos of migrant families struggling to make a living in Depression-torn California. Now in James N. Gregory's pathbreaking American Exodus, there is at last an historical study that moves beyond the fiction and the photographs to uncover the full meaning of these events. American Exodus takes us back to the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and the war boom influx of the 1940s to explore the experiences of the more than one million Oklahomans, Arkansans, Texans, and Missourians who sought opportunities in California. Gregory reaches into the migrants' lives to reveal not only their economic trials but also their impact on California's culture and society. He traces the development of an "Okie subculture" that over the years has grown into an essential element in California's cultural landscape. The consequences, however, reach far beyond California. The Dust Bowl migration was part of a larger heartland diaspora that has sent millions of Southerners and rural Midwesterners to the nation's northern and western industrial perimeter. American Exodus is the first book to examine the cultural implications of that massive 20th-century population shift. In this rich account of the experiences and impact of these migrant heartlanders, Gregory fills an important gap in recent American social history.