Sign-In
Cart
The Undocumented Americans
Hardcover
Biographies GeneralCentral American HistoryImmigration & Refugees
Publisher Price: $26.00
ISBN13: 9780399592683
Publisher: One World
Published: Mar 24 2020
Pages: 208
Weight: 0.70
Height: 0.90 Width: 5.80 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
Awards: National Book Awards
Karla's book sheds light on people's personal experiences and allows their stories to be told and their voices to be heard.--Selena Gomez
FINALIST FOR THE NBCC JOHN LEONARD AWARD - NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, NPR, THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY, BOOK RIOT, LIBRARY JOURNAL, AND TIME
Writer Karla Cornejo Villavicencio was on DACA when she decided to write about being undocumented for the first time using her own name. It was right after the election of 2016, the day she realized the story she'd tried to steer clear of was the only one she wanted to tell. So she wrote her immigration lawyer's phone number on her hand in Sharpie and embarked on a trip across the country to tell the stories of her fellow undocumented immigrants--and to find the hidden key to her own.
Looking beyond the flashpoints of the border or the activism of the DREAMers, Cornejo Villavicencio explores the lives of the undocumented--and the mysteries of her own life. She finds the singular, effervescent characters across the nation often reduced in the media to political pawns or nameless laborers. The stories she tells are not deferential or naively inspirational but show the love, magic, heartbreak, insanity, and vulgarity that infuse the day-to-day lives of her subjects.
In New York, we meet the undocumented workers who were recruited into the federally funded Ground Zero cleanup after 9/11. In Miami, we enter the ubiquitous botanicas, which offer medicinal herbs and potions to those whose status blocks them from any other healthcare options. In Flint, Michigan, we learn of demands for state ID in order to receive life-saving clean water. In Connecticut, Cornejo Villavicencio, childless by choice, finds family in two teenage girls whose father is in sanctuary. And through it all we see the author grappling with the biggest questions of love, duty, family, and survival.
In her incandescent, relentlessly probing voice, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio combines sensitive reporting and powerful personal narratives to bring to light remarkable stories of resilience, madness, and death. Through these stories we come to understand what it truly means to be a stray. An expendable. A hero. An American.
1 different editions
Also available
Also in
Immigration & Refugees
Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America
Luo, Michael
Hardcover
Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America: Second Revised and Updated Edition
Gonzalez, Juan
Paperback
Nature Knows No Color-Line: Research into the Negro Ancestry in the White Race
Rogers, J. a.
Paperback
Not "A Nation of Immigrants": Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion
Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne
Paperback
The Asylum Seekers: A Chronicle of Life, Death, and Community at the Border
Rathbone, Cristina
Hardcover
The Stowaway in First Class: A True Story of an Unforgettable Quest to Come to America
DeSantis, Anthony
Hardcover
Residencia Americana: Guía Para Obtener Tu Residencia Legal En Estados Unidos / How to Get Your Green Card
Inglés En 100 Días
Paperback
A Greek Tragedy: One Day, a Deadly Shipwreck, and the Human Cost of the Refugee Crisis
Carstensen, Jeanne
Hardcover
12 Elephants and a Dragon: A Memoir of Survival and the Kindness of Strangers
Banh, VI Tu
Beswick Arthur, Marie
Paperback
Somewhere We Are Human: Authentic Voices on Migration, Survival, and New Beginnings
Grande, Reyna
Guiñansaca, Sonia
Paperback
Patterns That Remain: A Guide to Healing for Asian Children of Immigrants
Arañez Litam, Stacey Diane
Hardcover
Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in the United States, Updated with a New Preface and Epilogue Volume 27
Holmes, Seth M.
Paperback
In the Shadow of Liberty: The Invisible History of Immigrant Detention in the United States
Minian, Ana Raquel
Hardcover
Central America's Forgotten History: Revolution, Violence, and the Roots of Migration
Chomsky, Aviva
Paperback
Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism
Walia, Harsha
Paperback
Beyond the Mountains: An Immigrant's Inspiring Journey of Healing and Learning to Dance with the Universe
Prem, Deja Vu
Hardcover
Latinoland (Spanish Edition): Un Retrato de la Mayor Minoría de Estados Unidos
Arana, Marie
Paperback
Hard Neighbors: The Scotch-Irish Invasion of Native America and the Making of an American Identity
Calloway, Colin G.
Hardcover
What We Remember Will Be Saved: A Story of Refugees and the Things They Carry
Saldaña, Stephanie
Hardcover
The Walls Have Eyes: Surviving Migration in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Molnar, Petra
Hardcover
The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream
Keefe, Patrick Radden
Paperback
How Migration Really Works: The Facts about the Most Divisive Issue in Politics
de Haas, Hein
Hardcover
Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the Politics of Ethnicity
Gutiérrez, David G.
Paperback
Sigh, Gone: A Misfit's Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit in
Tran, Phuc
Paperback
The War of Return: How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace
Schwartz, Adi
Wilf, Einat
Paperback
When the World Closed Its Doors: The Covid-19 Tragedy and the Future of Borders
Alden, Edward
Trautman, Laurie
Hardcover
Unsettled Families: Refugees, Humanitarianism, and the Politics of Kinship
Balakian, Sophia
Paperback
Welcome the Wretched: In Defense of the "Criminal Alien"
García Hernández, César Cuauhtémoc
Hardcover
Migrating to Prison: America's Obsession with Locking Up Immigrants
García Hernández, César Cuauhtémoc
Paperback
Hardship to Homeland: Pacific Northwest Volga Germans (Revised, Expanded)
Scheuerman, Richard D.
Trafzer, Clifford E.
Paperback
Sin Padres, Ni Papeles: Unaccompanied Migrant Youth Coming of Age in the United States
Canizales, Stephanie L.
Paperback
What Side Are You On?: A Tohono O'Odham Life Across Borders
Lucero, José Antonio
Wilson, Michael Steven
Paperback
The Alterations Lady: An Afghan Refugee, an American, and the Stories That Define Us
Miller, Cindy
Hardcover
Private Violence: Latin American Women and the Struggle for Asylum
Cleaveland, Carol
Waslin, Michele
Paperback
You Can Kill Each Other After I Leave: Refugees, Fascism, and Bloodshed in Greece
Strickland, Patrick
Hardcover
Nature Knows No Color-Line: Research into the Negro Ancestry in the White Race
Rogers, J. a.
Hardcover
Somewhere We Are Human \ Donde Somos Humanos (Spanish Edition): Historias Genuinas Sobre Migración, Sobrevivencia Y Renaceres
Guiñansaca, Sonia
Grande, Reyna
Paperback
In the Country We Love: My Family Divided (Updated with New Material)
Burford, Michelle
Guerrero, Diane
Paperback
Haven: The Dramatic Story of 1,000 World War II Refugees and How They Came to America
Gruber, Ruth
Paperback
The Documented Child: Migration, Personhood, and Citizenship in Twenty-First-Century U.S. Latinx Children's Literature
Socolovsky, Maya
Paperback
Enrique's Journey: The Story of a Boy's Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite with His Mother
Nazario, Sonia
Paperback
Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America - Updated Edition
Ngai, Mae M.
Paperback
Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America (Large Print Edition)
Luo, Michael
Paperback
Being Korean, Becoming Japanese?: Nationhood, Citizenship, and Resistance in Japan
Shin, Hwaji
Paperback
Legal Phantoms: Executive Action and the Haunting Failures of Immigration Law
Lee, Stephen
Chacón, Jennifer M.
Coutin, Susan Bibler
Paperback
The Kitchen Without Borders: Recipes and Stories from Refugee and Immigrant Chefs
Eat Offbeat Chefs, The
Hardcover
Undocumented: My Journey to Princeton and Harvard and Life as a Heart Surgeon
Fernandez, Harold
Paperback
Constructed Movements: Extraction and Resistance in Mexican Migrant Communities Volume 1
Shah, Ragini
Paperback
Far from the Rooftop of the World: Travels Among Tibetan Refugees on Four Continents
Yee, Amy
Paperback
The Borders of Privilege: 1.5-Generation Brazilian Migrants Navigating Power Without Papers
Cebulko, Kara
Paperback
Elusive Histories: Mozambican Migrant Laborers in Rhodesia, Ca. 1900-1980
Isaacman, Allen F.
Isaacman, Barbara S.
Chadya, Joy M.
Paperback
Bittersweet Freedom: What Would You Be Willing To Sacrifice To Live In Freedom? Would It Be Worth The Price?
Bognar Bean, Judith
Paperback
We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future
Iyer, Deepa
Paperback
The Succeeders: How Immigrant Youth Are Transforming What It Means to Belong in America Volume 53
Flores, Andrea
Paperback
American Shield: The Immigrant Sergeant Who Defended Democracy
Gonell, Aquilino
Shapiro, Susan
Paperback
Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s
Balderrama, Francisco E.
Rodríguez, Raymond
Paperback
La Cosecha del Imperio. Historia de Los Latinos En Estados Unidos / Harvest of Empire
Gonzalez, Juan
Paperback
Bans, Walls, Raids, Sanctuary: Understanding U.S. Immigration for the Twenty-First Century Volume 12
Paik, A. Naomi
Paperback
Weapons of Mass Migration: Forced Displacement, Coercion, and Foreign Policy
Greenhill, Kelly M.
Paperback
The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life
Markham, Lauren
Paperback
Milked: How an American Crisis Brought Together Midwestern Dairy Farmers and Mexican Workers
Conniff, Ruth
Hardcover
American Shield: The Immigrant Sergeant Who Defended Democracy
Gonell, Aquilino
Shapiro, Susan
Hardcover
The Latinos of Asia: How Filipino Americans Break the Rules of Race
Ocampo, Anthony Christian
Paperback
The Age of Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World
Castles, Stephen
Miller, Mark J.
de Haas, Hein
Paperback
Good Morning, Hope: A True Story of Refugee Twin Sisters and Their Triumph over War, Poverty, and Heartbreak
Zalli, Argita
Zalli, Detina
Hardcover
All Standing: The Remarkable Story of the Jeanie Johnston, the Legendary Irish Famine Ship
Miles, Kathryn
Paperback
Precarious Protections: Unaccompanied Minors Seeking Asylum in the United States
Galli, Chiara
Hardcover
Emergency in Transit: Witnessing Migration in the Colonial Present Volume 7
Paynter, Eleanor
Paperback
Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution
Zia, Helen
Paperback
Disintegrating Empire: Algerian Family Migration and the Limits of the Welfare State in France
Franklin, Elise
Paperback
The Naked Don't Fear the Water: An Underground Journey with Afghan Refugees
Aikins, Matthieu
Paperback
Through the Eyes of Children: Quotes from Childhood Interrupted by War in Ukraine, Illustrated by Artists
Charitable Foundation, Voices Of Children
Paperback
Good Morning, Hope: A True Story of Refugee Twin Sisters and Their Triumph over War, Poverty, and Heartbreak
Zalli, Argita
Zalli, Detina
Paperback
Resettled Iraqi Refugees in the United States: War, Refuge, Belonging, Participation, and Protest
Keyel, Jared
Paperback