Migrations and Cultures shows 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" from where they originated to the four corners of the earth. Each ethnic group has carried forth a particular set of skills, attitudes, and lifestyles, whether settling in Russia, Brazil, Australia, or the United States.

What are the effects of disseminating these patterns - both for the immigrants and for the host countries, in social as well as economic terms? Migrations and Cultures places the sagas of particular immigrant groups within the larger history of the nations sending and receiving these groups. The book also tells the story of the resentments engendered by the achievements of immigrant groups, even though these achievements have played a major role in the advancement of the human race in general.

Whether considering the Germans, Japanese, Italians, Chinese, Indians, or Jews, Thomas Sowell brings context, insight, and reason to an inflamed debate that threatens to dissolve the social fabric of our country.