Bestselling author Thomas Sowell brings his insight and erudition to bear on one of the key issues of our time—immigration—supplying context, insight, and reason to an inflamed debate that could very well dissolve the social fabric of our country.

Most commentators look at the issue of immigration from the viewpoint of immediate politics. In doing so, they focus on only a piece of the issue and lose touch with the larger picture. Now Thomas Sowell offers a sweeping historical and global look at a large number of migrations over a long period of time.Migrations and Culturesshows the persistence of cultural traits in particular racial and ethnic groups, and the role these groups' relocations play in redistributing skills, knowledge, and other forms of "human capital." This book answers the question: What are the effects of disseminating the patterns of the particular set of skills, attitudes, and lifestyles each ethnic group has carried forth—both for the immigrants and for the host countries, in social as well as economic terms?