Migration, immigration and emigration Books

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Book Synopsis2015 International Latino Book Awards Winner for Best Political / Current Affairs Book How do we balance border security and America’s need for a vital workforce while continuing to provide access to the American dream? Since the attacks of 9/11, the United States has steadily ramped up security along the US-Mexico border, transforming America’s legendary Southwest into a frontier of fear. Veteran journalist Peter Eichstaedt roams this fabled region from Tucson, Arizona, to El Paso, Texas, meeting with migrants, border security advocates, and communities ravaged by cross-border crime. Eichstaedt finds that despite tens of thousands of border agents and the expenditure of billions of dollars, an estimated one million Mexicans and Central Americans continue to cross the border each year. These migrants fill jobs that have become the underpinnings of the US economy. Rather than building a wall, or more and better barricades, Eichstaedt argues that the United States must reform its immigration and drug laws and acknowledge that costly, counterproductive, and antiquated policies have created deadly circumstances on both sides of the border.

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Book SynopsisThough often overlooked in heated debates, nearly 1.8 million undocumented immigrants are under the age of 18. How do immigration policies shape the lives of these young people? How do local and state laws that are seemingly unrelated to undocumented communities negatively affect them? Marisol Clark-Ibáñez delivers an intimate look at growing up as an undocumented Latino immigrant, analyzing the social and legal dynamics that shape everyday life in and out of school.Trade Review “An invaluable, impressively researched, exceptionally well written, organized and presented study.... [It] will prove of immense value to both scholars and non-specialist general readers.” —Helen Dumont, Midwest Book Review “A must read.... Provides compelling examples of resilience, struggle, and activism.” —Gilda L. Ochoa, Pomona College “Essential.... Sheds light on how the racist implementation of immigration policies trickles down to shape the lives of children and young people in and out of school.” —Leisy J. Abrego, University of California, Los AngelesTable of ContentsUndocumented Immigration: Dreams of Education and Beyond. Immigration Policy: Living with the Law. Elementary School: The Beginning and the Promise. Middle School: Creating New Paths. High School: Aspirations with Uncertainty. Community College: A Gateway. The University: A (Mostly) Safe Haven. After College Graduation: Bittersweet. DREAMer Activism: Challenges and Opportunities. Being a “DREAM Keeper”: Lessons Learned. Rethinking the American Dream. APPENDIX A: Sociology con y en la comunidad. APPENDIX B: Brief Overview of the Field. APPENDIX C: Summary Tables of Participants.

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Book SynopsisTwenty years ago, Margaret Mulrooney's history of the community of Irish immigrant workers at the du Pont powder yards, Black Powder, White Lace, was published to wide acclaim. Now, as much of the materials Mulrooney used in her research are now electronically available to the public, and as debates about immigration continue to rage, a new edition of the book is being published to remind readers of the rich materials available on the du Pont workers, and of Mulrooney's powerful conclusions about immigrant communities in America. Explosives work was dangerous, but the du Ponts provided a host of benefits to their workers. As a result, the Irish remained loyal to their employers, convinced by their everyday experiences that their interests and the du Ponts' were one and the same. Employing a wide array of sources, Mulrooney turns away from the worksite and toward the domestic sphere, revealing that powder mill families asserted their distinctive ethno-religious heritage at the same time as they embraced what U.S. capitalism had to offer.Table of ContentsPreface to the Anniversary Edition Acknowledgments to the Anniversary Edition Introduction 1 Mutual Interests 2 The Ties That Bind 3 A Distinctive Faith 4 The Bean a Ti (Woman of the House) 5 Habitations 6 All the Goods and Chattels 7 Porches, Yards, Gardens, Fences 8 Linen Tablecloths and Lace Curtains Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisNational Book Critics Circle FinalistFinalist for the Dayton Literary Peace PrizeDina Nayeri's powerful writing confronts issues that are key to the refugee experience.—Viet Thanh Nguyen From the author of The Ungrateful Refugee—finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Kirkus Prize—Who Gets Believed? is a groundbreaking book about persuasion and performance that asks unsettling questions about lies, truths, and the difference between being believed and being dismissed in situations spanning asylum interviews, emergency rooms, consulting jobs, and family lifeWhy are honest asylum seekers dismissed as liars?Former refugee and award-winning author Dina Nayeri begins with this question, turning to shocking and illuminating case studies in this book, which grows into a reckoning with our culture’s views on believability. From persuading a doctor that she’d prefer a C-section to learning to “bullshit gracefully” at McKinsey to struggling, in her personal life, to believe her troubled brother-in-law, Nayeri explores an aspect of our society that is rarely held up to the light.For readers of David Grann, Malcolm Gladwell, and Atul Gawande, Who Gets Believed? is a book as deeply personal as it is profound in its reflections on morals, language, human psychology, and the unspoken social codes that determine how we relate to one another.

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Book SynopsisDina Nayeri's powerful writing confronts issues that are key to the refugee experience.—Viet Thanh Nguyen From the author of The Ungrateful Refugee—finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Kirkus Prize—Who Gets Believed? is a groundbreaking book about persuasion and performance that asks unsettling questions about lies, truths, and the difference between being believed and being dismissed in situations spanning asylum interviews, emergency rooms, consulting jobs, and family lifeWhy are honest asylum seekers dismissed as liars?Former refugee and award-winning author Dina Nayeri begins with this question, turning to shocking and illuminating case studies in this book, which grows into a reckoning with our culture’s views on believability. From persuading a doctor that she’d prefer a C-section to learning to “bullshit gracefully” at McKinsey to struggling, in her personal life, to believe her troubled brother-in-law, Nayeri explores an aspect of our society that is rarely held up to the light.For readers of David Grann, Malcolm Gladwell, and Atul Gawande, Who Gets Believed? is a book as deeply personal as it is profound in its reflections on morals, language, human psychology, and the unspoken social codes that determine how we relate to one another.

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Book SynopsisThe Line Becomes a River meets Tell Me How It Ends in this book about translation, storytelling, and borders as understood through the United States' "immigration crisis." Alejandra Oliva is Mexican American, her family lineage defined by a long and fluid relationship with the border between Texas and Mexico, each generation born on opposite sides of the Rio Grande. A translator advocating for Latin American migrants seeking asylum and American citizenship, Oliva knows all too well the gravity of taking someone's trauma and delivering it in the warped form the immigration system demands. In Rivermouth, Oliva focuses on the physical spaces that make up different phases of immigration and looks at how language and opportunity move through each of them. From the river as the waterway that separates the United States and Mexico, to the table as the place over which Oliva prepares asylum seekers for their Credible Fear Interviews, and finally, to the wall as the behemoth imposition that runs along America's southernmost border. With lush prose and perceptive insight, Oliva encourages readers to approach the painful questions that this crisis poses with equal parts critique and compassion. By which metrics are we measuring who "deserves" American citizenship? What is the point of humanitarian systems that dole out aid distributed conditionally? What do we owe to our most disenfranchised? Rivermouth is an argument for porosity. Not just for porous borders and a decriminalization of immigration, but for a more open sense of what we owe one another and a willingness to extend radical empathy. As concrete as she is meditative, sharp as she is lyrical, and incisive as she is literary, Oliva argues for a better world while telling us why it's worth fighting to get there.Trade Review"Amazing... a beautiful conversation about what immigration and migration looks like but also how we come to understand it, whose stories we get to hear and how."—Traci Thomas, NPR's Here & Now"I am fascinated by translation both in theory and practice and it is translation that serves as the foundation of this excellent book that is about borders, and migration and how migration experiences can be so different. It’s part memoir of growing up as the child of immigrants while working with migrants seeking asylum and harbor in the US. Oliva has prescient and deeply intelligent ideas throughout. It’s always a pleasure to see an excellent mind at work."—Roxane Gay“Oliva’s excellent debut recounts her experiences volunteering as a Spanish-English translator in an immigration detention center at the U.S.-Mexico border beginning in 2016….With uncut rage and breathtaking prose, Oliva edifies, infuriates, and moves readers all at once. This is required reading. “—Publisher's Weekly (starred review)“A timely book by a translator at America’s southern border, Rivermouth is one of the most thoughtful meditations on our nation’s immigration policy in recent memory. Oliva’s Kafkaesque portrayal of her work retelling the traumatic stories of migrants in English for asylum applications will linger long after you’re done reading." —The Boston Globe"Mexican-American translator and immigrant justice activist Alejandra Oliva is particularly situated to tell the stories of immigration at the US southern border. She has seen the suffering, the space and the struggles of the people firsthand as she interprets their words for them and now, their experiences for us." —Karla J. Strand, Ms. Magazine "Undeterred by complexity, Oliva presents an accessible narrative electrified by transcripts of official exchanges, raw with emotion, that lay bare the tragic inadequacy of a sterile bureaucratic setting to ever do justice to petitioners in any "credible threat interview." —Sara Martinez, Booklist"A graceful meditation on the unresolved traumas of life in a land where one is often not welcome . . . Evenhandedly and without sentimentality, Oliva urges that we can stand to be both more understanding and more generous."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"Alejandra Oliva is a brilliant new voice of her generation, a writer of resistance with echoes of Simone Weil; her attention to immigration justice reaches us as a prayer. Translation in her hands becomes a deeper type of storytelling where bearing witness to injustices of immigration becomes not only a path of political reform but spiritual transformation. Rivermouth is a rich delta of braided essays where we are invited into spaces that break our hearts and carry us to a place of healing grace." —Terry Tempest Williams, author of Erosion: Essays of Undoing"Rivermouth is a supremely intelligent account of a translator's journey into the Kafkaesque machinery of U.S. immigration and asylum policy. Alejandra Oliva writes with great lucidity and empathy about the fractures at the U.S.-Mexico border and the human drama that plays out there."—Héctor Tobar, author of Translation Nation"Alejandra Oliva's Rivermouth is a document of witness and grace told with devastating clarity and beauty. A beautiful and important book." —Kate Zambreno, author of The Light Room"Rivermouth is a great gift in a time when migrants are demonized on the shores and borders of wealthy western countries, none uglier than the scar that is the US-Mexico border that was forged through US invasion and annexation, powered by societal white supremacy. Alejandra Oliva has not only written a poetic, gripping, and magnificent book, she is there, on the border, assisting the migrants in their attempts to escape hunger, deadly gangs, and dysfunctional governments, often due to U.S. coups, invasions, occupations, and economic sanctions."—Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, author of Not "A Nation of Immigrants""Subtle, personal, and deeply informative, this is one of those books that catapult you to a place you have never been. Translation is the author's vocation as well as a metaphor for the in-between spaces that her personal and professional identities compel her to traverse. Alejandra Oliva stands at a literal border and contemplates the metaphorical borderlines language creates, in terms of both the immigrant crisis and her own identity as a bilingual Mexican-American. Driven by a fierce sense of social justice, she is also an exquisitely controlled journalist. Her candid, intimate voice is irresistible." —2022 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant judges's commentsTable of ContentsPreface: The River, The Table, The WallPart I: Caminante No Hay CaminoPart II: SobremesaPart III: El AzoteAcknowledgments

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Book SynopsisWhat you will find in Echoes of Growing up Italian are accounts of the immigrant experience as told through the eyes of women. The Italian diaspora is one of the most significant of the 20th century, with a far-reaching impact in the Americas, Australia and Northern Europe. The Italian immigration narrative is a universal one. The stories in this book of the Italian woman in North America and how she learned to survive as she lived with two cultures in her heart and home. This collection provides the reader with a candid glimpse into the lives of fifteen women from across North America: some were born and raised in Italy while some have only been there on holidays; some are mothers and grandmothers and some are single; some only know a few words of Italian, while others are fluent, but we all have a discerning perspective on what it means to live with two cultures.

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Book SynopsisIt is clear that the right is on the rise, but after Brexit, the election of Donald Trump and the spike in popularity of extreme-right parties across Europe, the question on everyone's minds is: how did this happen?An expansive investigation of the ways in which a newly-configured right interconnects with anti-democratic and illiberal forces at the level of the state, Europe's Fault Lines provides much-needed answers, revealing some uncomfortable truths.What appear to be "blind spots" about far-right extremism on the part of the state, are shown to constitute collusion-as police, intelligence agencies and the military embark on practices of covert policing that bring them into direct or indirect contact with the far right, in ways that bring to mind the darkest days of Europe's authoritarian past.Old racisms may be structured deep in European thought, but they have been revitalized and spun in new ways: the war on terror, the cultural revolution from the right, and the migration-linked demonization of the destitute "scrounger." Drawing on her work for the Institute of Race Relations over thirty years, Liz Fekete exposes the fundamental fault lines of racism and authoritarianism in contemporary Europe.Trade ReviewFor the twenty-five years I have known Liz Fekete she has been a tireless anti-racist and anti-fascist fighter, as well as a people's intellectual and a political inspiration. Fekete brings that cumulative experience, insight and commitment to her brilliant new book, Europe's Fault Lines, which maps the shifting terrain of racism and right wing populism in Europe, as well as continued forms of resistance. This book not only paints a gut-wrenching portrait of the vulgarity and violence of Neoliberalism, but through her clarity of analysis, Fekete gives us sustenance for the struggles that lay ahead. -- Barbara Ransby, author of Eslanda: The Large and Unconventional Life of Mrs Paul RobesonRacism, for Liz Fekete, is the breeding ground of fascism, and her struggle to combat both-on the ground and in her writings-has earned her the reputation of being an intrepid organiser, an inspirational speaker and an organic intellectual. -- A. Sivanandan, Director Emiritus of the Institute of Race RelationsFor twenty-five years, Fekete relentlessly monitored Europe's far right while the continent's leaders preferred to look away. With right-wing extremism finally recognised by the mainstream as a fundamental threat to Europe's future, her indictment of those who enabled, amplified, and aided the rise of the hard right is an essential contribution to the defense of democratic values. -- Arun Kundnani, author of The Muslims are ComingIn Europe's Fault Lines, Liz Fekete has not only written an excellent study of how racism is once again being normalised but how, in turn, it is acting as cloak under which fascism is resurgent. -- Nicolas Lalaguna * Morning Star *A relatively brief book, but it makes important points that are often left out of the discussion. -- Daniel Trilling * Prospect *[Europe's Fault Lines] provokes a range of emotional responses, from rage to helplessness, but closes leaving the reader equipped with an intellectual arsenal to begin resisting fascism in all its guises. * Peace News *Fekete provides an accessible and stimulating discussion on the roles of the state, intellectuals, the media, and uneven development in the triumph of the right in our age of crisis and rage ... Europe's Fault Lines is a wealth of resource on one of the most disturbing aspects of our age of rage. * The Bullet *A perspicacious enquiry into the 'fomenting of a reactionary cultural revolution' over the last few decades ... provid[ing] the reader with a clear picture of the state of political play in Europe. * Counterfire *

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Book SynopsisThey arrive from around the world for countless reasons. Many come simply to make a living. Others are fleeing persecution in their native countries. Millions of immigrants risk deportation and imprisonment by living in the U.S. without legal status. They are living underground, with little protection from exploitation at the hands of human smugglers, employers, or law enforcement. Underground America, from the Voice of Witness series, presents the remarkable oral histories of women and men struggling to carve a life for themselves in the U.S.Trade Review"This book fills a gap in our understanding of the issue by humanizing the people at the center of an otherwise cold debate." Huffington Post

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Book SynopsisThe story of the Welsh who emigrated to North America on the Mormon Trail. Between 1847 and 1869, about 4,500 Welsh people crossed the Great Plains and the Rockies by ox-cart, through the history of the early West. The Indian Wars, the Civil War, Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane and Crazy Horse all appear in their story. Over 70 photographs.Trade ReviewAlmost anyone who has tried to read The Book of Mormon will know it for an outrageous forgery written in King-James-Bible English, yet today there are some 16 million followers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, centred on Salt Lake City. First published in Welsh, Welsh Saints on the Mormon Trail is a history of the Welsh contribution to the founding years of the Church in the mid nineteenth century, for between 1847 and 1868 some 5,000 converts, mostly Welsh-speaking, left Wales to make the long and dangerous journey across the Atlantic and then overland to the fledgling Promised Land in what was to become the state of Utah. At first, shiploads of Mormon converts sailed to New Orleans, then up the Mississippi to Nauvoo, after which they journeyed in ox-drawn wagon trains many hundreds of miles across the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains to the Mormon settlements around the Great Salt Lake. Later, the point of debarkation was changed to New York, in part at least because of the diseases that plagued the Mississippi route. The courage and endurance of these men, women and children, especially in the early years, was extraordinary. All wagon trains had to be organised with a careful estimation of food and other necessary supplies, and timed so as to cross the Rockies before the onset of winter. The Mormons under Brigham Young were particularly well served in this respect. Even so, death from dreaded diseases like cholera, and terrible accidents with individuals falling under the wheels of wagons, were a constant peril on the long journey. By the 1860s, too, there was danger from raiding parties of Plains Indians whose hunting grounds they crossed. The Mormons, though they may not have intended it, were part of the great theft of Indian land in the mid and late nineteenth century and of the tragedy that ended in the genocide of Native Americans. But the Welsh Mormons were often victims, too, in Wales, where the Mormon faith was viewed with suspicion and often downright hatred in Nonconformist communities. Losing one’s job, or being beaten up, were common enough to make converts long for escape to the great New Jerusalem beyond the boundaries of the United States in the 1840s. Wil Aaron tells this fascinating story with chapters divided in years from 1847–68. He is lucky in having a treasure trove of documentary evidence. Mormons were encouraged to keep diaries, and many of these describe vividly the trials of the Saints as they laboured with ox-drawn carts – and in one year with handcarts alone – across the great expanse of plains and mountains. He also draws on letters home, and on the Welsh-language Mormon journal, Udgorn Seion. They allow him to recreate the experience of these pioneers, enhanced by period and recent photographs and an excellent pull-out map of the trail itself in great detail. This English-language edition is very well written and the story it tells so fascinating that I found it hard to put down. Highly recommended. -- John Barnie @ www.gwales.com

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Book SynopsisChairman Yang Ho Cho, head of Korean Air and Hanjin, talks of Los Angeles as a “microcosm of the United States—a land built of immigrants who want to do one thing: improve their lives.” In The Korean-American Dream, distinguished business journalist James Flanigan uncovers the struggles and contributions of the people who have made Los Angeles the largest Korean city outside of Seoul. This intimate account illustrates how Korean immigrants have preserved their culture and history while adapting to the American culture of e pluribus unum, the radical promise of “out of many, one.” Flanigan shows how Los Angeles emerged as a capital of the Asia-Pacific region.At less than two million, Korean Americans are a relatively small group compared to new Americans from China, the Philippines, and India. But with energy and drive, they are building landmarks in New York as well as Los Angeles, lobbying for causes in Washington, founding businesses, heading universities and hospitals, and holding public office in all parts of the United States. Flanigan’s compelling narrative, told largely through personal interviews, provides a front-row seat to the economic, business, and cultural developments of the Korean American community. At a time of spirited debate about immigration, their energy and ambition serve as a ringing reminder of the promise of the American mosaic.Trade Review“Flanigan sheds light on a key building block of what’s next in America— an ethnic community where a work ethic born of reconstruction in their homeland has combined with a reverence for education and access to capital forged amid a diaspora. The result has been a powerful effect across the United States.”—Jerry Sullivan, editor, Los Angeles Business Journal“A timely, compelling book about one of the most inspiring American immigrant success stories ever. Korean newcomers to our shores have contributed mightily to the economic vibrancy of every area— most especially Los Angeles—where they have put down roots.” —Steve Forbes, Chairman & Editor-in-Chief, Forbes Media

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Book SynopsisWe Refugees is the third anthology in a series designed to spark conversation, promote awareness, and generate funds to advance social justice and amplify the voices of the marginalized. Rather than the vision of crisis so often portrayed in the media, the poems, essays, and personal reflections in We Refugees are moving accounts of individual suffering and fortitude; demonstrations of the great willingness shared by many to bridge cultural divides and offer hope and healing; and celebrations of the courage of people who have been forced to leave their homes and seek new ones. The contributors are Kirsty Anantharajah, Jennifer deBie, Nina Foushee, Robbie Gamble, Akuol Garang, Sharif Gemie, Steven Jakobi, Enesa Mahmic, Loretta Oleck, Virginia Ryan, Judith Skillman, and Mitchell Toews. Pact Press is proud, through the sale of this anthology, to support the work of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC), which advocates for, empowers, and provides material support to people seeking asylum.

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Book SynopsisText in German. This study is dedicated to the origins of two decisive processes - the transformation of post-war Germany from the National Socialist community to a liberal democracy and the ideological genesis of the Cold War. The study focuses on five German emigrants, the political thinker and Protestant Carl J. Friedrich, the socialist political scientist Ernst Fraenkel, the Catholic publicist Waldemar Gurian, the liberal lawyer and lawyer Karl Loewenstein and finally Hans Morgenthau, political scientist, lawyer and theorist on the Field of international relations. All of them participated intensively in the political debates of the Weimar period, survived the Nazi era in exile in the United States, and advanced to become influential American intellectuals and political advisors. Udi Greenberg follows in their footsteps and shows, including historical and political perspectives, that the cornerstone for Germany's democratic reconstruction as well as for the transatlantic post-war order was based on experiences of the Weimar Republic. From the interwar period in Germany to the end of the East-West conflict, the study sheds light on five personalities, their ideas and the resulting political decisions that had a lasting impact on Germany's relationship with America and the structure of the Cold War.

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