Bloomsbury Academic A Swedish Dilemma: A Liberal European Nation's Struggle with Racism and Xenophobia, 1990-2000

Product Description : A Swedish Dilemma examines Sweden's negative reaction to a growing minority population. Careful to qualify that Swedes did not react differently than other European societies, the book explores the country's xenophobic roots. Fear from and insecurity about the ramifications of multiculturalism led to increased violence and hostility toward refugees and immigrants. A Swedish Dilemma recounts a century-long progression of many governmental social programs, parliaments, and prime ministers that were unable to balance the desires of reactionaries with the needs of newcomers. The book also examines various consequences of inactivity such as ghettos, unemployment, gang wars, murders, and a resurgence of fascism. This compelling book explores the real Sweden and reveals a side heretofore completely missing from the positive images the nation has tried to project to the outside world. Review Nordin has written an impassioned, rich account of the difficulties faced by Sweden's immigrants from 1990 through 2000.... The volume is much less a work of detached and systematic investigation than it is an extended critique of Sweden's 'arrogance and superiority' and the 'menace' of 'fanatic resisters' to immigration that builds upon the author's extensive personal observations. Summing Up: RECOMMENDED. General readers, lower-division undergraduates and above.--W. M. Downs, Georgia State University "CHOICE " About the Author Dennis Sven Nordin, a faculty member at Mississippi State University, earned a Ph.D. in History at Mississippi State University. His publications include: From Prairie Farmer to Entrepreneur: The Transformation of Midwestern Agriculture and The New Deal's Black Congressman: A Life of Arthur Wergs Mitchell.