by Jamie Raskin
First published 2023
Aquilino Gonell arrives in the United States as a young man from the Dominican Republic. He speaks no English but throws himself into pursuing the American dream. Military service will pay for his education, so he enlists and deploys to Iraq. He returns with PTSD but remains determined to build a life for his family. His persistence pays off when he lands a coveted position with the United States Capitol Police in Washington DC and rises to sergeant. On January 6, 2021, everything changes. Insurrectionists storm the Capitol building. Gonell refuses to yield to those trying to stop the peaceful transfer of power. The brutal injuries he suffers that day end his police career. When some of the same politicians he protected try to rewrite what happened, Gonell chooses to speak out. He fights for truth and accountability while battling the injustice done to him and his country. This immigrant veteran's story reveals what it means to live by principles that honor democracy's highest ideals.
Genres: american, military-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century, political-thriller, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: immigrant-experience, perseverance, speaking-truth-to-power
Setting: Dominican Republic, Iraq, United States, Washington DC
Period: January 6 2021
272 pages · Hardcover · Counterpoint
Content warnings: violence