State of Disaster
The Failure of U.S. Migration Policy in an Age of Climate Change
By Maria Cristina Garcia
256 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 8 halftones, 3 maps, notes, index
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Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4696-6996-0
Published: September 2022 -
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4696-6995-3
Published: September 2022 -
E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-1-4696-6997-7
Published: August 2022 -
E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-6151-1
Published: August 2022
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- Paperback $24.95
- Hardcover $99.00
- E-Book $19.99
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Awards & distinctions
Honorable Mention, 2023 Theodore Saloutos Book Prize, Immigration and Ethnic History Society
A 2023 Choice Outstanding Academic Title
Garcia focuses on Central America and the Caribbean, where natural disasters have repeatedly worsened poverty, inequality, and domestic and international political tensions. She explains that the creation of better U.S. policy for those escaping disasters is severely limited by the 1980 Refugee Act, which continues to be applied almost exclusively for reasons of persecution directly related to politics, race, religion, and identity. Garcia contends that the United States must transform its outdated migration policies to address today's realities. Climate change and natural disasters are here to stay, and much of the human devastation left in their wake is essentially a policy choice.
About the Author
Maria Cristina Garcia is Howard A. Newman Professor of American Studies and professor of history at Cornell University. Her most recent book is The Refugee Challenge in Post–Cold War America.
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Reviews
"This book is critical for understanding how climate change intersects with hemispheric political history and regional inequality to increase immediate suffering in the wake of natural disasters and undermine longer-term safety and security. . . . Essential."—CHOICE
"A forthright work of research and witness . . . State of Disaster is a learned and fervent exposé that holds out hope that impacts can 'be minimized with strategic planning, sustainable practices, and responsible, accountable and transparent governance.'"—Foreword Reviews
"Garcia’s study is a welcome addition to the discipline. . . . The research is timely in that it centers climate change as a push factor, differentiating it from previous studies and providing a framework and methodology for subsequent research in this area."—Ethnic and Racial Studies
“State of Disaster provides concrete examples to illustrate the intricate challenges of displacement caused by disasters and the shortcomings of existing policies. As a result, it significantly contributes to existing research on migration driven by environmental and climate change. This timely book will be appreciated by students, scholars and practitioners interested in understanding how ad hoc policies and recovery efforts fall short of addressing the growing challenges of the climate crisis.”—International Migration
“State of Disaster is well researched and will generate interest for multiple audiences. It is a wake-up call for US voters and policy makers, and the book is sure to shine among humanistic and hemispheric monographs on climate change. It could not have come at a better moment.”—Journal of American Ethnic History
“Maria Cristina Garcia's timely book helps us make sense of the roots of recent migrations from the global South, and it reveals climate change's political and humanitarian challenges. . . . [State of Disaster] is accessible to a general readership and will be welcomed in undergraduate classrooms.”—Journal of American History
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