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On this weeks podcast, Yang, a deputy national editor of The Times, talks about the current state of the conversation and what her research revealed to her about how the countrys views have changed over time.

I was amazed to think about and learn just how recent this conception of a nation of immigrants is, actually. I learned its from the 1950s, Yang says. That idea is fairly modern. Before that, you could argue that the root of the American spirit, people thought about as coming from the Wild West. That was the nationalist mythology. This notion of immigrants is something of a invention is too far afield, I think, but that was the result of historians doing work and doing political work.

Judith Newman visits the podcast this week to discuss her latest Help Desk column, which features books about simplifying life, and says the purpose of those books has changed over time.

What has changed may not be so much the day to day but our relationship to the day to day, Newman says. We want to be successful, ambitious people, we want to get a lot done, whether its in the home or in the office, but we dont want to have heart attacks while doing it. We want to have a kind of focus and a calm. Whether these books can deliver that is of course a big question mark, but I think thats the purpose of a lot of them.

Also on this weeks episode, Alexandra Alter has news from the publishing world; and Dwight Garner and Jennifer Szalai talk about their recent reviews. Pamela Paul is the host.

Here are the books discussed by The Timess critics this week:

We would love to hear your thoughts about this episode, and about the Book Reviews podcast in general. You can send them to books@nytimes.com.

Originally posted here:
Immigration Reform, Past and Present - The New York Times