8.2: Books at CCC- Print

Bui, T. (2017). The best we could do : an illustrated memoir. Abrams ComicArts.

The author describes her experiences as a young Vietnamese immigrant, highlighting her family's move from their war-torn home to the United States in graphic novel format. "Exploring the anguish of immigration and the lasting effects that displacement has on a child and her family, Bui documents the story of her family's daring escape after the fall of South Vietnam in the 1970s, and the difficulties they faced building new lives for themselves.”

Chomsky, A. (2018). "They take our jobs!" : and 20 other myths about immigration. Beacon Press.

In "They Take Our Jobs!" Aviva Chomsky challenges the underlying assumptions that fuel misinformed claims about immigrants, radically altering our notions of citizenship, discrimination, and U.S. history. Since it was first published, many of the same myths about immigration such as "immigrants take American jobs," "immigrants don't pay taxes," and "immigrants increase crime" continue to be perpetuated and used to promote aggressive anti-immigration policies. In a new introduction, Chomsky reflects on the events of the past ten years. She analyzes declining Mexican immigration patterns, illuminates Mexico's little-known Southern Border Program, and assesses Obama's complicated legacy as "deporter-in-chief" which, Chomsky argues, inadvertently laid the groundwork for Trump's anti-immigrant racism.”

Nguyen, T. (2005). We are all suspects now : untold stories from immigrant communities after 9/11. Beacon Press.

Introduction -- Becoming suspects : Brooklyn and New Jersey -- Separated by deportation : Minneapolis -- Turning in for registration : Chicago -- The new racial profiling : Los Angeles -- Crisis at the border : Arizona -- In search of asylum : Canada -- Conclusion.

Roediger, D. R. (2005). Working toward whiteness : how America's immigrants became white : the strange journey from Ellis Island to the suburbs. Basic Books.

Seeing Race in New Immigrant History -- New Immigrants, Race and "Ethnicity" in the Long Early Twentieth Century -- Popular Language, Social Practice, and the Messiness of Race -- "Inbetweenness" -- "The Burden of Proof Rests With Him": New Immigrants and the Structures of Racial Inbetweenness -- Inside the Wail: New Immigrant Racial Consciousness -- Entering the White House -- "A Vast Amount of Coercion": The Ironies of Immigrant Restriction -- Finding Homes in an Era of Restriction -- A New Deal, An Industrial Nation, and a White House: What the New Immigrant Got Into -- Afterword: The Houses We've Lived In and the Workings of Whiteness.

Shukla, N. & Suleyman, C. (2020). The good immigrant : 26 writers reflect on America. Back Bay Books.

Presents essays by first- and second-generation immigrant writers on the realities of immigration, multiculturalism, and marginalization in an increasingly divided America. From Trump's proposed border wall and travel ban to the marching of White Supremacists in Charlottesville, America is consumed by tensions over immigration and the question of which bodies are welcome. In this much-anticipated follow-up to the bestselling UK edition, hailed by Zadie Smith as "lively and vital," editors Nikesh Shukla and Chimene Suleyman hand the microphone to an incredible range of writers whose humanity and right to be here is under attack. Chigozie Obioma unpacks an Igbo proverb that helped him navigate his journey to America from Nigeria. Jenny Zhang analyzes cultural appropriation in 90s fashion, recalling her own pain and confusion as a teenager trying to fit in. Fatimah Asghar describes the flood of memory and emotion triggered by an encounter with an Uber driver from Kashmir. Alexander Chee writes of a visit to Korea that changed his relationship to his heritage. These writers, and the many others in this singular collection, share powerful personal stories of living between cultures and languages while struggling to figure out who they are and where they belong. By turns heartbreaking and hilarious, troubling and uplifting, the essays in The Good Immigrant come together to create a provocative, conversation-sparking, multivocal portrait of America now.

Vargas, J. A. (2018). Dear America : notes of an undocumented citizen. Dey St.

"My name is Jose Antonio Vargas. I was born in the Philippines. When I was twelve, my mother sent me to the United States to live with her parents. While applying for a driver's permit, I found out my papers were fake. More than two decades later, I am still here illegally, with no clear path to American citizenship. To some people, I am the "most famous illegal" in America. In my mind, I am only one of an estimated 11 million human beings whose uncertain fate is under threat in a country I call my home. 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 about the unsettled, unmoored psychological state in which undocumented immigrants like me find ourselves. 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 what it means to not have a home."