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Rating: 
Summary: Excellent introductory text!
Review: Parrillo's text is a helpful overview of the sociology of race and ethnicity in the United States taken from a group-to-group approach. Major sociological contributions on these matters are covered through the lens of particular groups that are most affected (e.g. LA riots are covered under black Americans but not under Korean Americans). The most recent edition is especially helpful as comments are made in conjunction with post-September 11th consequences on race and ethnic issues. The role of religion in racial dynamics and the continuing changes in immigration is a helpful addition as well as it is a rising area of study with race and ethnicity. The book if it suffers in any direction is the judgment call of organizing the text by ethnic group. As suggested earlier, some issues like the LA riots deal with multiple groups and yet this text places such a topic under only one group. As an undergraduate text, it also has an added bonus of photographs which may make the material seem less abstract and more accessible. Additionally its use of the basic "functionalist" "conflict" and "interactionist" perspectives allows students who have taken an introductory class in sociology to have a language from which to bridge between a general study of sociology and a more specific look at one area within sociology. Overall this is an excellent textbook and I highly recommend it for classroom use and for use in scholarly research to gain access to the complex field of race and ethnicity.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent introductory text!
Review: Parrillo's text is a helpful overview of the sociology of race and ethnicity in the United States taken from a group-to-group approach. Major sociological contributions on these matters are covered through the lens of particular groups that are most affected (e.g. LA riots are covered under black Americans but not under Korean Americans). The most recent edition is especially helpful as comments are made in conjunction with post-September 11th consequences on race and ethnic issues. The role of religion in racial dynamics and the continuing changes in immigration is a helpful addition as well as it is a rising area of study with race and ethnicity. The book if it suffers in any direction is the judgment call of organizing the text by ethnic group. As suggested earlier, some issues like the LA riots deal with multiple groups and yet this text places such a topic under only one group. As an undergraduate text, it also has an added bonus of photographs which may make the material seem less abstract and more accessible. Additionally its use of the basic "functionalist" "conflict" and "interactionist" perspectives allows students who have taken an introductory class in sociology to have a language from which to bridge between a general study of sociology and a more specific look at one area within sociology. Overall this is an excellent textbook and I highly recommend it for classroom use and for use in scholarly research to gain access to the complex field of race and ethnicity.
Rating:
Summary: From the Foreword author:
Review: Strangers to These Shores is a comprehensive examination of the sharpest edges and more nuanced qualities of American pluralism. In its 14 chapters, Professor Parrillo provides students/readers--and those for whom it is not assigned--with a well conceived, carefully constructed, and highly readable introduction to a very complex subject. -- Peter I. Rose, Smith College
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