The demographic changes that mark post-1960s America have had a profound impact on our political and cultural systems. The influx of Hispanics and Asians in the last twenty years has posed challenges comparable to those generated by Eastern and Southern European immigrants in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. In her recent anthology, Reinventing the Melting Pot, Tamar Jacoby showcases essays that investigate these changes, asking what it means to be an American in a society that has undergone radical economic and cultural shifts. How viable is the "melting pot" concept in an era of globalization with an emerging "minority majority"?

Discussants include Tamar Jacoby; John McWhorter, Associate Professor of Linguistics, UC-Berkeley, Fellow, Manhattan Institute, and author of Authentically Black and The Power of Babel; and Nathan Glazer, Professor of Sociology and Education Emeritus, Harvard University, Editor of Clamor at the Gates and author of We Are All Multiculturalists Now. Moderator: Rodney Alexander, Director, Institute for Business Trends Analysis at Borough of Manhattan Community College. Sponsored by the Wolfson Center for National Affairs.

Inscription: 6/9/04 / The Melting Pot Re-Examined.