Democracy for All: Restoring Immigrant Voting Rights in theUnited States. By Ron Hayduk. New York: Routledge,2006. 264p. $24.95 paper, $95.00 cloth.

The 50% American: Immigration and National Identity in an Ageof Terror. By Stanley A. Renshon. Washington, DC:Georgetown University Press, 2005. 298p. $26.95 cloth.

Immigration is a powerful narrative in the history of the UnitedStates, at times evoking optimism and at other times providingfodder to foment xenophobia. These two books, authored by a pair ofNew York City–based scholars, share a common vantage point in theexperience of the most racially and ethnically diverse city ofimmigrants in the United States. At the same time, the books are astudy in contrasts, a neat fit to both ends of the spectrum betweenhope and fear. One is concerned with enhancing freedom and the otherwith maintaining order. One advocates expansion of politicalexpression in the form of the franchise, the other recommendsconstraint. One looks to our nation's history—to our sometimesignominious past of exclusion, as well as to expansive practicesallowing noncitizen voting—and highlights inclusionary lessons todraw, and the other looks to the future and sees danger in apost-9/11 world of organized terror. Although distinctive in manyways, both books are passionately written, and one is compelled toread on whether cheering in agreement or taking umbrage, for thearguments will resonate regardless of where one sits on thepolitical spectrum.