Immigrant Memoirs

"This is more than a charming Irish memoir. The voice of a spirited young girl sets the perfect tone to deliver Irish history, the determination of a family to make their way into another country, and the importance of music." - New York Times best selling author Jacqueline Sheehan. "A delightful and satisfying read".- The Jamaica Gleaner A captivating memoir that vividly brings to life growing up in a large, quirky and ambitious Irish immigrant family during the Depression and War time in Australia. After years of periodic imprisonment in Ireland for their fight for independence, John and ...

What does it mean to be American? In this starkly illuminating and impassioned book, Pulitzer Prize­­-finalist Laila Lalami recounts her unlikely journey from Moroccan immigrant to US citizen, using it as a starting point for her exploration of American rights, liberties, and protections.

My family and I immigrated from Hong Kong to Los Angeles’ Chinatown in 1969 hoping to build a better life. It felt like the universe was against us. From living in a cockroach-infested apartment with my family of nine to getting beaten up on an almost regular basis in school, I didn’t understand why we chose America as our new home. Over the last six decades, I have lived through the happiest and most harrowing experiences and emotions. Very few things made sense in the moment, but the opacity of my very unorthodox path has gotten clearer. I strove to get a college education, dual ...

Valentin Chmerkovskiy, the world championship-winning and beloved Dancing with the Stars ballroom dancer invites fans into his life as never before, sharing the experiences, including the failures and successes, that have shaped him, from his early childhood in Ukraine to growing up as an immigrant in the US to his rise to international fame.

The issue of immigration stirs intense emotions today, as it has throughout much of American history. But what gets lost in the debates about policy are the stories of immigrants themselves, the people who are drawn to America by its promise of economic opportunity and political and religious freedom - and who strengthen our nation in countless ways. Out of Many, One brings together 43 full-color portraits of men and women who have immigrated to the United States, alongside stirring stories of the unique ways all of them are pursuing the American dream.

Sudhir Venkatesh, acclaimed sociologist at Columbia University and author of Gang Leader for a Day, returns to the streets to connect the dots of New York's divergent economic worlds and crack the code of the city's underground economy. Based on Venkatesh's interviews with prostitutes and socialites, immigrants and academics, high end drug bosses and street-level dealers, Floating City exposes the underground as the city's true engine of social transformation and economic prosperity - revealing a wholly unprecedented vision of New York.

On the surface, Arce's story sounds like a how-to manual for achieving the American dream: growing up in an apartment on the outskirts of San Antonio, she worked tirelessly, achieved academic excellence, and landed a coveted job on Wall Street, complete with a six-figure salary. The level of professional and financial success that she achieved was the very definition of the American dream. But in this brave new memoir, Arce digs deep to reveal the physical, financial, and emotional costs of the stunning secret.

Chris Von der Ahe knew next to nothing about baseball when he risked his life’s savings to found the St. Louis Browns, the franchise that would become the St. Louis Cardinals. Yet the German-born beer garden proprietor would become one of the most important - and funniest - figures in the game’s history.

Poor Man Always Dreams a Better Tomorrow...but Is the Life Worth the Cost? The oldest daughter who failed to weigh the cost of pleasing her much-loved father… The oldest son burdened with his father's expectations… The story of ego, pride, anger, revenge, guilt… With the powerful and raw memoir, The Guilt is Alive, author Hemalatha Gnanasekar gives an unconventional and unique examination of her life in an impoverished Indian family and explores her family's fateful decision to send the oldest son to Jamaica to work. Strap yourself in for a gripping, suspenseful, and bittersweet ...

It’s easy to talk about freedom. But unless someone has lived in a world that suffocates freedom, it’s difficult to appreciate the liberty found in America. This is the true story of a Pakistani Muslim who immigrates to the United States for college and discovers five transformational freedoms along the way: the freedom to fail and start over, to love, to choose one’s faith, to be an entrepreneur, and to self-govern.

After losing 25 members of their family in the Holocaust, the author and his parents escape a brutal Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, transforming themselves in a single day from one of their native country’s wealthiest families to stateless refugees with all their assets contained in three suitcases. Young Charlie’s father orders him to speak English without an accent and to become a “100% American.”

Growing up in rural El Salvador in the wake of the civil war, the United States was a distant fantasy to identical twins Ernesto and Raul Flores - until, at age 17, a deadly threat from the region’s brutal gangs forces them to flee the only home they’ve ever known. In this urgent chronicle of contemporary immigration, journalist Lauren Markham follows the Flores twins as they make their way across the Rio Grande and the Texas desert, into the hands of immigration authorities, and from there to their estranged older brother in Oakland, CA.

Somewhere in the Unknown World is a themed collection of stories of refugees from around the world who have converged on Minneapolis, collected and told by the award-winning author of The Latehomecomer and The Song Poet.

He signed up to sail on SS Rajputana as soon as he'd heard it was bound for Canada. By the time the ship reached port in Esquimalt, British Columbia, in November of 1939, his decision had already been made. He had reached the land of freedom, and if he were to ever provide a better life for his wife and children, he couldn't possibly return to Bombay. With a heart full of hope, and only four dollars in his pocket, he slipped away from his crew. This is the story of Gafoor Khan, an illegal immigrant and a courageous man.

The only thing my father ever said about his Italian immigrant family was that his parents died in the 1930s, shortly after arriving at Ellis Island. Except they didn't. Once I began the search for my grandparents, I mostly ran into dead-ends. Until the 1940 census. My grandparents magically appear, but as inmates at the Rockland Insane Asylum. What happened? Why all the secrecy? And how did I use genealogy to unravel the mystery?

Since 1949, when Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Max Frankel began to write for The New York Times, readers have looked to his work as a lens through which they could witness America's role in a rapidly changing world. In this vivid and unforgettable memoir, Frankel chronicles the times of his extraordinary life as he experienced them...within the context of the news stories that defined an era.

Jenn Budd, the only former US Border Patrol agent to continually blow the whistle on this federal agency's rampant corruption, challenges us—as individuals and as a nation—to face the consequences of our actions. Her journey offers a vital perspective on the unfolding moral crisis of our time. She also gives harrowing testimony about rape culture, white privilege, women in law enforcement, LGBTQ issues, mental illness, survival, and forgiveness.

When Aida Hernandez was born in 1987 in Agua Prieta, Mexico, the nearby US border was little more than a worn-down fence. Eight years later, Aida’s mother took her and her siblings to live in Douglas, Arizona. By then, the border had become one of the most heavily policed sites in America. Undocumented, Aida fought to make her way. She learned English, watched Friends, and, after having a baby at 16, dreamed of teaching dance and moving with her son to New York City. But life had other plans.

The Paralllel Life of Your Dog is the hilarious tale of trekking up and through the pretty and the gritty trails of the Concrete Jungle, Manhattan.This deeply enjoyable memoir features an irresistable cast of beloved canines, their quirky owners; and a different generation of migrant workers as it opens the path of transformations, hopes, and second chances in surreal adventure.

Carlos Bulosan’s idealism and ambition would seem to position him for certain success in America, even given how young he is when he first makes the journey from the Philippines. However, after arriving in Seattle, employers are far more concerned with his Filipino background than they are with his character. Low-paying jobs - and an uncertain future - remain his daily reality.