Thesis: Katherine Benton-Cohen brings attention to how the Dillingham Commission (DC) affected people coming to the US. The author argues that the DC presented immigration as an issue (Benton-Cohen, 2018). By demonstrating problems associated with individuals entering the country, the DC allowed those in power to decide who was accepted as a true US citizen (Benton-Cohen, 2018). The analysis offered by Benton-Cohen is a thorough investigation of unfairness caused by the DC.
Scope and Content: Chronological and geographical scopes of Benton-Cohen’s work have some limitations but are purposefully specific. Focusing on the DC, the text covers the years of the Commission’s existence from 1907 to 1911 (Benton-Cohen, 2018). The book also views other times, such as 1881-1924, when about twenty-four million people immigrated to the US (Benton-Cohen, 2018). The author concentrates on the US but considers regions like the northeast coast, far west, and southwest of the country (Benton-Cohen, 2018). Moreover, the text regards different nations, such as Mexican and Chinese populations’ experiences (Benton-Cohen, 2018). In terms of content, the chapters are thematically organized, with each examining the predominant assumptions about the DC. The book focuses on the DC’s role in the perception of immigration and considers people, events, and places related to the Commission.
Methodology: Inventing the Immigration Problem follows a unique methodology of investigating the DC and immigration through the backgrounds of central figures alongside official reports and personal papers. For example, Benton-Cohen (2018) describes some experiences of Jeremiah Jenks, one of the nine designated members of the DC. By drawing connections between certain individuals’ ideologies, state power, and law, the book unravels how the DC created the immigration problem.
Historiographical Contribution: Benton-Cohen’s text significantly contributes to understanding how modern immigration policy has developed. The author has analyzed the work of the internally inconsistent Commission to explain how the DC invented the issue of people coming to the US from overseas (Benton-Cohen, 2018). Accordingly, the book’s historiographical contribution is based on immense research that illustrates the DC’s role in the contemporary debate on immigration in the US.
Critique: The reviewed work offers value to scholars, historians, and sociologists. The book fills historiographical gaps, corrects assumptions about the DC, and presents a basis for future research. In addition to the thorough investigation of the immigration issue, the author writes cordially, and the text flows quite well. Overall, one can argue that Benton-Cohen has successfully presented how the DC shaped immigration police in the US.
Reference
Benton-Cohen, K. (2018). Inventing the immigration problem: The Dillingham commission and its legacy. Harvard University Press.