Jia Lynn Yang, the national editor at The New York Times, was previously deputy national security editor at The Washington Post, where she was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of Trump and Russia. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
A masterly study of political struggle.... Yang has written a captivating account, full of personality and drama--and significance.... Worth reading to the last page.--David M. Shribman - Boston Globe An effort to understand precisely what kind of nation of immigrants we are and how we arrived at this moment in our history.... Admirably thorough.--Philip Terzian - Wall Street Journal While 'we tend to describe immigrants' stories as feats of will and strokes of destiny, ' Yang reminds us, 'it is not destiny that brings a family here but politics.' This is a message worth noting.--David Nasaw - New York Times Book Review Yang sketches lively portraits of the famous and obscure players behind the legislative fights.... [Her] voyage across early-20th-century U.S. immigration debates makes palpable how much diplomacy and perseverance are required to win legislative change.--Laura Wides-Munoz - Washington Post Powerful, riveting, and beautifully written, this book tells the story of how the most significant immigration laws in the twentieth century came to pass in the United States. From Takao Ozawa's heartbreaking bid to become a citizen to our nation's rejection of Jewish refugees of World War II, Jia Lynn Yang exposes the myth that ours is a nation that has consistently welcomed immigrants. With force and imagination she transports us to the halls of Congress and the White House and shepherds us through four decades of political conflict. This book could not be more timely: In a divisive moment where the place of immigrants in America is bitterly debated, we need this book more than ever. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how politics has shaped, and can shape, the lives of immigrants in the United States.--Michelle Kuo, author of Reading with Patrick: A Teacher, a Student, and a Life-Changing Friendship