A Nation of Strangers: Prejudice, Politics, and the Populating of America

``We must all hang together, else we shall all hang separately,'' noted Ben Franklin upon signing the Declaration of Independence. America has teetered on the precipice between unity and discord ever since its inception, according to this account of American immigration policies and prejudices. Cose, editorial page editor of the New York Daily News , recounts a dark side of American history--the bigotry he considers endemic in our culture, whether seen in our exclusion of Jewish refugees during WW II or, more recently, in our treatment of Haitians. As described by Cose, the American legacy of exclusion makes for painful reading. But it is important to remember, and this author forcefully pricks the national conscience. (Mar.)