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American identity and changing attitudes toward immigration have long been part of our history. NPR reporter Tom Gjelten wrote a book about this titled "A Nation of Nations: A Great American Immigration Story.” He wrote the book to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1965 immigration law.

That law, the recently retired NPR correspondent says, is responsible for changing the character and identity of the United States and forced us to define what American exceptionalism really means.

He was invited to give a talk at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn. It was the kickoff event for the Alworth Center for Peace and Justice Lecture Series. The event was held virtually on Sept. 30, 2020.

Gjelten is the author of several other books including “Sarajevo Daily: A City and Its Newspaper Under Siege” and “Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba: The Biography of a Cause.” 

He was a reporter for NPR for more than three decades and covered wars in Central America, the Middle East and the former Yugoslavia, as well as major national stories in the U.S. His most recent beat focused on religion in America. 

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Retired NPR reporter Tom Gjelten speaks at the College of St. Scholastica about his book, “A Nation of Nations: A Great American Immigration Story.”

NPR reporter Tom Gjelten speaks about America’s immigration history, as part of the Peace and Justice Series hosted by the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth.

Journalist Tom Gjelten explores America's immigration story

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