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American immigration is like a book with no ending. Despite a resurgence of nativism, newcomers continue to seek entry, with the same sense of hope and yearning that fired their 19th century predecessors. Illegal Irish seek jobs, escaping an 18% unemployment rate in their homeland. Jews from the former Soviet Union want relief from an ugly surge of anti-Semitism at home. Perhaps & 80% of the newcomers in recent years have come from Asia and Latin America, adding to the country's unparalleled cultural and racial diversity. (New York City alone has more than 170 distinct ethnic communities.) "Of every hue and caste am I," wrote Walt Whitman in Song of Myself. True enough when he composed that line in 1881. Truer still today.