“That’s the centerpiece,” Park said. “Initially, when President Johnson signed the Immigration Act of 1965, he promised that it wouldn’t change America, that it wouldn’t be revolutionary.” Johnson would prove to be strikingly wrong.

Park, a scholar of U.S. legal history by training, has been teaching an American migration course at UCSB since 2002. His book, and a companion website, were born of that experience and a desire to provide an accessible overview of immigration to students and anyone interested in the subject.

“The whole point is to make it such that 18-, 19-year-old students can grasp it relatively easily,” he said.