Guests and Aliens presents a comprehensive analysis of worldwide immigration by one of the worlds leading experts on globalization. Putting the current crisis of immigration into a historical context for the first time, Sassen suggests that the American experience represents only one phase in a history of global border crossing. She describes the mass migrations of Italians and Eastern European…
Nations fret about their shrinking sovereignty as large numbers of immigrants cross borders at will. Multinational corporations quietly draw up contracts that sidestep the legal institutions of their "home" territories. Complex financial ties tightly bind competing national centers such as New York and Tokyo, putting these cities in a nomad's land beyond the reach of any one state.