by Alan Alda
First published 2018
This collection brings together immigration narratives from seventy-two notable Americans including Nancy Pelosi, Dr. Oz, Michael Bloomberg, and Alan Alda. Andrew Tisch and Mary Skafidas assembled these personal accounts in partnership with the New-York Historical Society. The contributors describe how their families arrived in America and built new lives. Stories range from grandfathers who dug ditches and cleaned sewers in the early days of the nation to an eleven-year-old who crossed the ocean on a cargo ship to become a future cabinet secretary. Readers encounter a young boy fleeing violence in Budapest who later became a celebrated football player, a girl escaping persecution who became the first Vietnamese American woman elected to Congress, and a limo driver whose family took a seventy-year detour before reaching their intended destination. The essays come from figures like Tony Bennett, Cory Booker, Barbara Boxer, Elaine Chao, Andrew Cuomo, and many others. All proceeds benefit the New-York Historical Society and the Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Foundation.
Genres: american, non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, rags-to-riches
Setting: America, Budapest, Ellis Island, New York, Vietnam
Period: Early Nation, Modern Era
345 pages · Kindle Edition · RosettaBooks