Shaping our nation a look at how America was transformed

    Carl Olsen       Shaping our nation is a book that examines migration patterns in American history and how it shaped the country and its politics to this day. Michael Barone is the author and has a few chapters devoted to the major immigrant groups that transformed this country. The scotch-Irish are studied first as they were first foreign group that came in a regular pattern and distributed themselves all over the frontier. Many of their pioneering was illegal just like the latest Mexican migration of the past few decades.  Barone excellently gets this groups anti-establishments agenda and focus when heading for the mountains. Later Irish and German immigration patterns concentrated on east   

Coast cities and soon established themselves in government and the free spending ways that have helped put country in debt to this day. As Barone points out these were people determined to see government work for the people as opposed to the way things were done in the Europe they fled. The differences in politics of Irish and Germans is looked and explained from their situations from European homelands. Black and Asian migrations are looked at and their ability to work for lower wages and resentment it caused for native-born workers. Internal migrations of blacks from South and Midwest folks to California is also outlined and examined brilliantly throughout this book.  Barone thinks that eventually Mexican migration will taper off but he fails to realize how much more of a failed state Mexico and her numerous Central American sisters are compared to Europe in eighteenth century. Today's migrants are a post colonial world migrant that lays blame to us for He plot and poverty and most of this migration is illegal from South of the border. Illegal crossings proved disastrous for the Native Americans and this nation will experience the same thing if illegal crossings are not checked. It may come up to the fighting Scotch-Irish once again to fight for heir rights in an increasing encroachment on all traditionally American culture and practices from those who wish to retain their foreign culture.