Books: In Praise of Pluralism

BEYOND THE MELTING POT by Nathan Glazer and Daniel Patrick Moynihan. 360 pages. M.I.T. Press and Harvard University Press. $5.95.

In the great American melting pot—so the theory goes—all ethnic groups lose their distinguishing characteristics and blend into a homogeneous whole. It is the argument of this provocative book that the melting pot has done very little melting. However much these groups may have changed over the years, they have retained their identity. They differ as much as they ever did—and the authors think that it is good that they do.

Glazer, the son of Jewish immigrants, and Moynihan, the grandson of Irish...