To justly assess Arnold's Anti-Immigration in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia, the reader must first get past the somewhat unusual and unsettling, although not unheard of, use of the negative prefix “anti” as the first word in the title. Then comes the task of determining how the editor defined the term “anti-immigration” and how she was able to establish the scope and parameters of this broad topic. Arnold's lengthy introduction provides an explanation, which is by necessity complex, thereby raising the question: if one needs such extensive background to use this publication, and it requires such effort to place the material in a context, should it be a reference work at all, or would it be more effective as a monograph? That stated, for those seeking a very basic understanding of “anti-immigration ideas, events, policies and figures” (xvii) and the “history of anti-immigration sentiment throughout American history” (xvii) in particular, Anti-Immigration in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia can prove useful, with some caveats. Some of the coverage is uneven. For example, the “Italian Immigrant Experience” entry makes no mention about the internment of this group during World War II, whereas it is noted under the entry for German Americans. Further, because of the negative orientation of this work's title, the authors are prone to identify stereotypes and then substantiate the basis for them, thereby actually perpetuating them, a point Arnold mentions in her introduction. Some contributors handle this problem by balancing out the negative with the positive. The “Irish Immigrant Experience” entry, for example, states “John, Robert, and Edward Kennedy, would become three of the most respected politicians in American history” (284–85), which is hardly evidence of “anti-immigration in the United States.”

Organizational elements of this publication enhance its value. Volume 1 contains a helpful “Topical List of Entries,” which includes anti-immigration figures, both contemporary and historical; movements and groups, including significant ethnic, cultural and political ones; institutions; issues and theories; historical periods; laws and policies; and entries related to class, gender, and sexuality, as well as an alphabetical listing and a list of the primary documents found in volume 2. The signed entries, authored by journalists, sociologists, historians, anthropologists, political scientists, and many others, are followed by sources and further reading lists and extensive “see also” references.

While other reference works such as Louchy, Armstrong, and Estrada's Immigration in America Today: An Encyclopedia (Greenwood, 2006), Ciment's Encyclopedia of American Immigration (M.E. Sharpe, 2001), and Ueda's Companion to American Immigration (Blackwell, 2006) have chapters or entries on the topic of anti-immigration or a particular aspect of it, none are devoted specifically to this topic. Arnold's publication, therefore, fills a void in this area despite the challenge of defining exactly what it is. It is recommended for high school and undergraduate academic libraries and large public libraries.