Books by Joel Perlmann

Joel Perlmann traces the history of U.S. classification of immigrants, from Ellis Island to the present day, showing how slippery and contested ideas about racial, national, and ethnic difference have been. His focus ranges from the 1897 List of Races and Peoples, through changes in the civil rights era, to proposals for reform of the 2020 Census.

Ethnic Differences, first published in 1989, explores how and why the Irish, Italians, Jews, and blacks of Providence, Rhode Island differed in their schooling and economic success. The book offers an integrated study of American ethnicity, education, and social structure.