Pushing back against the mythology that America has always been a nation of immigrants, One Mighty and Irresistible Tide centers on the four-decade period between the passage of the Immigration Law of 1924, which created a permanent race-based quota system, and the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which inaugurated a new era of mass migration in the U.S., unintentionally transforming the ethnic and racial makeup of the country in the process. By breaking down the history of these policy shifts, Yang’s book sheds light on why it has always been politics, not destiny, that decides who is able to come to this country.

The Zócalo Book Prize is awarded annually to the nonfiction book that most enhances our understanding of community and the forces that strengthen or undermine human connectedness and social cohesion.

What struck our judges about Yang was her ability to explore immigration policy in a critical yet accessible way. “Jia Lynn Yang is an excellent narrator,” wrote one of our judges, “with a gift for extracting the interesting actors in this story and building biographical frames that take readers into the intricacies of legislative fights without becoming lost in the details.”

Yang will deliver a lecture on her book and accept the prize, which includes a $10,000 award, during a live event streaming on Zócalo’s YouTube channel on May 20 at 5 p.m. PDT. Angelica Esquivel, winner of the 10th annual Zócalo Poetry Prize, will deliver a public reading of her poem “La Mujer” prior to the lecture.

Yang, whose own family came to the United States from Taiwan and China thanks to the 1965 law, spoke to Zócalo associate editor Jackie Mansky about why understanding the history of our nation’s immigration policies crystalizes what’s at stake for the future of the American republic.

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