Immigrant Memoirs

Born with a physical handicap, illegal, and undocumented for 21 years, he was determined to enter mainstream American society and corporate America and overcame insurmountable odds to achieve unimaginable heights. His journey had a spiritual awakening that changed his life. After assimilating into corporate America, he set sales records and felt a calling to reach others in his race who were shut out and who also aspired to become productive citizens in the United States of America.

This important book focuses on how women of color, children of immigrants, and other minoritized groups are predisposed to workplace imposter syndrome—and charts a path forward for self-advocacy and advancement.​ For women of color and children of immigrants, who are the “the other” at...

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.

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.”

In this book, the author shares personal stories, captivating the listener with descriptions of her experiences and challenges as an African immigrant, an international student, and later, as a mother of three children. The quotes she chooses to use as openers for each letter reflect her background as an African anthropologist and spiritual leader. She sums up each missive with lessons she has learned during her decades of living in the United States. This book offers insight into the life a minoritized American immigrant from an internal perspective.

"To My Daughters: An Immigrant Father’s Advice to His Born-in-America Daughters" is a heartfelt guide by Dr. Tursun Alkam, a neuroscientist, father, and immigrant. In this inspiring book, he blends personal experiences with practical advice to help his daughters—and others—navigate life’s challenges.

Award-winning author Reyna Grande shares her personal experience of crossing borders and cultures in this middle grade adaptation of her memoir, The Distance Between Us—“an important account of the many ways immigration impacts children” (Booklist, starred review). When her parents make...

With deep empathy, rigorous reporting, and the irresistible perspective of a true romantic, journalist Anna Lekas Miller spotlights couples around the world who confront frustrating immigration systems to be together—as she did to be with her husband. ​ We are told that love conquers all...

Few people watch sport for its politics. Yet what happens on the field of play often reflects the problems in our society. Such was the case in the '80s, when black footballers emerged from the dressing room to find bananas being hurled from the stands, and racially motivated attacks and police harassment were the norm. Today, things have improved. Crowds are less hostile and stars like Anthony Joshua and Sir Mohamed Farah are among our most revered sporting heroes. But for athletes of colour, success on the field seldom converts to power away from it.

Acclaimed biographer John Loughery tells the story of John Hughes, son of Ireland, friend of William Seward and James Buchanan, founder of St. John's College (now Fordham University), builder of Saint Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue, pioneer of parochial school education, and American diplomat. As archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York in the 1840 and 1850s and the most famous Roman Catholic in America, Hughes defended Catholic institutions in a time of nativist bigotry and church burnings and worked tirelessly to help Irish Catholic immigrants find acceptance.

A deeply personal and shocking look at how China is coming to terms with its conflicted past as it emerges into a modern, cutting-edge superpower. Through the stories of three generations of women in her family, Karoline Kan, a former New York Times reporter based in Beijing, reveals how they...

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.

From Ty McCormick, winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, an epic and timeless story of a family in search of safety, security, and a place to call home. When Asad Hussein was growing up in the world’s largest refugee camp, nearly every aspect of life revolved around getting to...

In Bronzville Brooklyn, NY, a single mother with three children faces the relentless challenges of being an immigrant who cannot read. Despite her persistent efforts to secure a stable life through marriage, each attempt ends in failure, culminating in a devastating assault. Struggling to heal and recover, she must confront her hardships with unwavering resolve. "Unwritten Resilience" is a powerful tale of perseverance, illustrating a mother's unbreakable spirit as she fights to overcome adversity and build a brighter future for her family.

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.

Intimate and honest essays on motherhood, marriage, love, and acceptance. Brown White Black is a portrait of Nishta J. Mehra's family: her wife, who is white; her adopted child, Shiv, who is black; and their experiences dealing with America's rigid ideas of race, gender, and sexuality. Her...

This anthology of popular American history presents the stories of nine incredible Irish immigrants as written by nine contemporary Irish-Americans. More than one in 10 Americans claims Irish ancestry and, with its celebrity contributors, Nine Irish Lives will have strong appeal for those listeners. It is also, though, a timely portrait of shared humanity. These are stories about immigrants - and in the tales of revolutionaries and visionaries, caretakers and unsung heroes, Nine Irish Lives reminds us of the values and the people that have shaped America.

Guillermo Vicente Vidal's memoir chronicles his journey from Castro's Cuba to the United States - a tapestry of his coming of age, a broken family, and disorientation of political unrest. Vidal was barely 10 years old when he proudly shook the hand of Fidel Castro. Although Vidal's parents were once staunch supporters of La Revolucion, they soon found they could no longer keep their sons safe in the new face of Castro's reign, making the difficult decision to send Vidal and his brothers to the US via Operation Peter Pan in 1961.

Award-winning memoirist and New York Times best-selling author Nuala O'Faolain branches into new territory with her biography of the infamous Irish-American prostitute and thief Chicago May. O'Faolain uses May's autobiography, primary sources from the turn of the 19th century, and her own experience as an Irishwoman to bring May and all her heartache, deception, and violence to life.

Her dream had become reality: married to her lover, living in a luxurious home on the California coast where her sons would have opportunities that did not exist in her native Croatia, green card in hand so she could teach. Then it all fell apart: the unbridgeable rifts between her and her husband, having to live on her own in a country she barely knew, and, most terrifying, the discovery that her sons were technically in the country illegally and could be deported at a moment's notice.