A Portrait of America The Demographic Perspective [Hardcover]

Portrait of Americadescribes our nations changing population and examines through a demographic lens some of our most pressing contemporary challenges, ranging from poverty and economic inequality to racial tensions and health disparities. Celebrated authorJohn Iceland covers various topics, including America's historical demographic growth; the American family today; gender inequality; economic well-being; immigration and diversity; racial and ethnic inequality; internal migration and residential segregation; and health and mortality.

The discussion of these topics is informed by several sources, including an examination of household survey data, and by syntheses of existing published material, both quantitative and qualitative. Iceland discusses the current issues and controversies around these themes, highlighting their role in everyday debates taking place in Congress, the media, and in American living rooms. Each chapter includes historical background, as well as a discussion of how patterns and trends in the United States compare to those in peer countries.

John Icelandis Head of the Department of Sociology and Professor of Sociology and Demography at Penn State University. His research focuses on poverty, immigration, and racial and ethnic residential segregation issues. His latest books arePoverty in America: A Handbook, Third EditionandWhere We Live Now: Immigration and Race in the United States, both from University of California Press.

Portrait of Americais solidly grounded in the most recent empirical work on the various topics and is presented in a well-written, accessible style. Stewart Tolnay,?S. Frank Miyamoto Professor of Sociology at the?University of Washington and author of?The Bottom Rung: African American?Family Life on Southern Farms

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