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Notes of an Undocumented Citizen
by Jose Antonio Vargas
Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, called "the most famous undocumented immigrant in America," tackles one of the defining issues of our time in this explosive and deeply personal call to arms.
"This is not a book about the politics of immigration. This book––at its core––is not about immigration at all. This book is about homelessness, not in a traditional sense, but in the unsettled, unmoored psychological state that undocumented immigrants like myself find ourselves in. This book is about lying and being forced to lie to get by; about passing as an American and as a contributing citizen; about families, keeping them together, and having to make new ones when you can't. This book is about constantly hiding from the government and, in the process, hiding from ourselves. This book is about what it means to not have a home.
After 25 years of living illegally in a country that does not consider me one of its own, this book is the closest thing I have to freedom."
—Jose Antonio Vargas, from Dear America
"Excruciatingly timely... .Vargas' frank and fearless voice thoughtfully and intentionally challenges readers to confront the call for action at the heart of this book; the urgent need for "a new language around migration and the meaning of citizenship." —Booklist (starred review)
"A thought-provoking, moving, and highly personal memoir of Vargas's struggle to belong. Recommended for all readers interested in immigration issues and American identity." —Library Journal
"This riveting, courageous memoir ought to be mandatory reading for every American...The pressing question from these pages isn't whether Jose deserves to be a citizen but whether we, as a nation, deserve the bravery and generosity of spirit that he offers us with an open heart and mind." —Michelle Alexander, New York Times bestselling author of The New Jim Crow
"Dear America is a daring and honest book that perhaps so many undocumented citizens wish they could write, about what is gained and lost by living in the "shadows"...You may not know where he will be when you read this book, but his story will stay with you always." —Edwidge Danticat, award-winning author of Brother, I'm Dying
This information about Dear America was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Jose Antonio Vargas is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and Tony-nominated producer. His work has appeared internationally in Time magazine, as well as in the San Francisco Chronicle, The New Yorker, and the Washington Post. In 2014, he received the Freedom to Write Award from PEN Center USA. A leading voice for the human rights of immigrants, he founded the non-profit media and culture organization Define American, named one of the World's Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company. An elementary school named after him will open in his hometown of Mountain View, California in 2019.
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