Crashing the Gates

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Journalist, Columbia professor and Pulitzer Prize administrator Christopher ( The Japanese Mind ) describes how in recent decades the U.S. has shaken off the dominance of WASPs in business and social life. He explains logically, clearly and comprehensively how higher education (made more widely available by the 1946 GI Bill), increasing intermarriage and economic advancement are molding various immigrant nationalities into a new American society no longer under the thumb of WASPs. He details the gains made by Jews, Catholics, Italians, Poles, Greeks, Asians and other religious and ethnic groups (e.g., Iacocca, Kerkorian, Wang) in industry, banking, publishing, entertainment--and even the bastions of Ivy League presidencies and the officer corps of U.S. armed forces. Partially responsible for their rise is an ``ecumenical imperative,'' argues Christopher, replacing a once-perceived need to conform to ``WASP'' values. Author tour. (May)