Immigration Books

This book is a must for those who want an account of Black History in North America and the Caribbean. It really provides a foundation for you to view the Caribbean in different light and to understand why we are now where we are today. It is both informative and disturbing. This should be part of the National Curriculum in so many countries. The account Mr Segal gives on each Island is rewarding. I has a 'sense' of what I saw when I went to Martinique and the book provides firm facts which have enabled me to reflect on my journey and forthcoming journeys. If only more people from Europe and within the Islands read a book like this!!

Ronald Segal's book "The Black Diaspora" is an excellent historical and cultural account of African descendents living outside of Africa. This book is so smoothly written that it is impossible not to enjoy and learn a great deal from its pages. The format and flow are so well put together that Segal's many topics of discussion are beautifully linked with easy transitions. I loved this book and learned a huge amount about the black diaspora despite having read many, many other books on this same topic.

Never underestimate the power of images! the book portaits in a very succint way, the causes of illegal immigration and why our borders are so porous. Good book if you are used to think and go beyond propaganda.

BORDER FILM PROJECT: PHOTOS BY MIGRANT AND MINUTEMEN ON THE US-MEXICO BORDER could also have been featured in our 'arts' or 'social issues' sections, but is reviewed here for its outstanding documentary value. The authors distributed hundreds of disposable cameras, along with means of returning them, to migrants and Minutemen so they could document their own border and immigration experiences. BORDER FILM PROJECT gathers these images under one cover, pairs them with personal stories which go far beyond the usual news report, and accompanies a traveling exhibition. It's an outstanding documentary highly recommended for any collection strong in photography, social issues, and immigrant issues.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This book is a superb collection of real-life adventures. Some are a few pages, while others are several pages. All share a common theme: In first-person narrative, they tell the story of a person from Latin America who is heading to the USA to find a better life. Each story is quite distinct, due to the narrators' age and gender differences, their available resources, their life experiences they have left behind, and what they expect to find awaiting in the USA. In each story I became acquainted with a unique person of different aspirations. Translated from the Spanish, these are day-by-day accounts from good storytellers, describing that important transition of their life when they left poverty behind. Entering the USA illegally is difficult, expensive and dangerous. Some have died trying. In these stories, we read about tragic situations and even some comical ones, as our narrators do everything they can to evade capture from the ever-present border patrol. Though sometimes it looks like capture is imminent, the reader keeps in mind that these are the lucky ones that made it. They arrived here safely, and now have quite the story to share with us.

Regardless of one's opinions concerning the "immigration issue", anyone reading these stories would want these people to make it safely across. They describe their hopes and dreams that any normal person could relate to. They also describe terrible economic hardships in their homelands. It would seem there is no other option than to go to the USA. In one particularly memorable story, a young narrator describes leaving his mother and little sisters behind. The mother and girls were crying. The narrator told them not to cry and promised to send back money after he reached the USA. He set out on foot and had food for barely two days. Many weeks passed before he could send back word that he had arrived safely in the USA. It was enough time that his family feared he had died. The truth was that he almost had, after several days in the desert!

In conclusion, these are fascinating stories, and I highly recommend them. But how much better the world would be if they were only fiction...

Southern California radio personality Alicia Alarcon invited her immigrant listeners to call in and share their stories: The Border Patrol Ate My Dust (translated into English by Ethriam Cash Brammer de Gonzales) is her recorded collection of these stories of hardship and deprivation suffered by those who struggled to enter this country. Natural and man-made obstacles are recounted in recollections of making it across the border and making a new life in America.

When Chamnan embarks on the journey across the street from his parents' Thai restaurant to the bakery on the other side, it's a scary trip. The bakery is a different world, and he can't find the words to speak in English. But Alison the bakery owner knows a secret that will give Chamnan the courage to find his voice...

This is a book for anyone who's ever felt shy or out of place, and it's also a book about how different cultures can live together and learn from each other. My young daughter loves this beautifully written story, and it's a book that adults will enjoy too.

I don't even need to read it to write a raving review!

Why?

Well, long story short: I was a 14 years old living on the streets in Portland, Maine when I walked into a warm church on a cold Sunday morning.
Little did I know what I had stumbled upon- From then until he retired from First Parish Unitarian Church, I had the privilege of hearing all kinda of mind-blowing even _life-changing_ words from him once a week.

I urge everyone--any age, any race, any religion, any gender, any class--get ahold of any of Fred's writing. There's always a message and a point to what he says, and you may be surprised just how much you could learn from him.

I suppose there is no such thing as a perfect person.. But if ever there were an award for the closest anyone could get to it, Fred Lipp would win 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, hands down.

This book serves as an overview of the historiography of the British Empire. It is not a history of the empire by any stretch and really looks at the motives for expansion and shows what other historians are debating on the subject. There is a distinct justification of Marxism throughout the book although they treat it relatively fairly and do point out when Marxist theory does not apply such as Africa. The book does expose the theory that a gentleman class of capitalists was in charge of British expansion and was well placed within the government and financial sectors to control expansion during this time period. Hughes and Cain try to show how this class rose to prominence and then fell with the rest of the empire in the post world war II era through the sterling zone. The majority of the book focuses on the years from 1688-1939. There is only really one chapter on the post 1939 world although what is said about it is very interesting.

Overall this is not a book that you want to start with if you are just learning about British Empire. I would recommend either Dennis Judd's book on Empire or the Oxford history five volume history of the British Empire. Once you have a good grasp on the history of the British Empire this is an excellent book to summarize that knowledge and understand the historical debates affecting the historiography of empire today. The authors are truly the top in their field when considering the theories of empire and this book is a landmark not only in the study of the British empire but empires as a whole.

Great historians of British imperialism have tended to come in pairs for the last half-century (Robinson and Gallagher being the other pair), and this is the magnum opus for Cain and Hopkins. In many ways this book is an historiographical response to Robinson and Gallagher, and it is rich in themes adapted both from Robinson and Gallagher, as well as from earlier imperial commentators such as Marx, Hobson, and Lenin.

It argues, amongst other things, that the primary motivator of British overseas expansion were the "gentlemanly interests" emanating from the metropole. That is, interests in the financial and the service sector, non-working incomes that were the natural extension of the British aristocracy of yesteryear. Robinson and Gallagher's ideas may hold true in many cases, but this work is indispensable for demonstrating that perhaps underlying all the strategic interests were economic interests of the most powerful variety - aristocratic businessmen that held sway at Westminster. The connections between gentlemanly capitalists and government officials ran deep, they argue; everything from their common public school upbringing, to powerful amalgamations of finance and government.

This book also includes a detailed discussion of informal empire, yet it considerably modifies Robinson and Gallagher's thesis by ascribing both formal and informal imperialism to the interests of the City (that is, financial and service sector interests). In other words, both formal and informal empire found their impetus in the City's financial interests. This otherwise Hobsonian (J.A. Hobson, "Imperialism: A Study") thesis therefore modifies the economically-based theories of both Hobson himself, as well as Marxist historians, by emphasizing financial and service sector interests, rather than being preoccupied with industrial interests. Industrial interests, according to Cain and Hopkins, were not connected with London policy-makers, and were not sufficiently wealthy and integrated to have any considerable effect on official policy.

First published in 1993, and having been re-issued in one volume in 2001, this book has sparked fresh debate on British imperialism, as well as shed light on the issue of globalization in the twenty-first century.

When an immigrant family moves to America in early 1900 they are filled with hope. Sicilian Francesco Finazzo, his wife Giroloma and their baby begin their new life in New York City. The family numbers five children when Giroloma watching from an upstairs window in 1911 sees her beloved husband shot dead on the sidewalk below. The time is near the turn of the century 1900s. It is a period of horse drawn wagons, push carts and multi languages heard on Brooklyn streets. Francesco's younger brother Luiji, a recent immigrant himself following his brother's letter urging him to come to New York now faces a true dilemma. Luiji is only nineteen when he marries his brother's pregnant twenty-nine year old widow.

Luiji and Giroloma settle into life, at first one dominated by necessity and social mores, later by true affection for one another. Giroloma carries eleven children, typical of the time she does not get to raise them all. As the little one is born one of the older kids is assigned to be teacher and caretaker for the little one. Gangster funerals, police prejudice and racial tension are all part of the ever changing scene in which this family lives.

When Giroloma dies of cancer Luiji after 20 years of marriage to his brother's wife and seeing his brother's children all become adults sets out for Detroit with his own three teenaged children. At last he will have opportunity to marry the woman to whom he was engaged in Sicily before Franceso was murdered.

Author Lonchar offers the reader a peek into life as seen through the eyes of a typical family living in Brooklyn from late 1800s to 1939. Under Lonchar's skillful pen A Brooklyn Rose teems with the spectacle, reverberation and aroma of early 20th century New York tenement life. The reader is drawn into the narrative from the opening page when Giroloma is horrified to see her husband killed before her eyes. Interest is held fast right down to the last lines when Luiji and his three kids are settling into their new home.

Lonchar proves her skill as a writer in this nicely crafted work in which she relates her family lore. A Brooklyn Rose is named for Luiji and Giroloma's daughter. Rose Finazzo is Lonchar's mother. With in-depth descriptions of foods, habits and dress the narrative provides the reader with a better understanding of the social history of the time when it is accepted that in Little Italy a brother must marry his sibling's widow. In the early 1900s it is also accepted that those on the lower end of the social scale will tolerate prejudice and children of poor people are often considered as little more than chattel by the infant social organizations developed to protect them.

Family traditions, an extraordinary childhood and hardship from living through The Great Depression are all found on the pages of A Brooklyn Rose. Lonchar adds just enough broken English dialog to flavor the tale.

A Brooklyn Rose is a good book for a long lazy afternoon sitting in the porch swing on the front porch. Enjoyed the read, happy to recommend.

Forget the "Sopranos" and the "Godfather." "A Brooklyn Rose" takes you down some streets the men will never show you, and weaves a tale of violence, heartbreak, and poverty in 1930's Brooklyn - But it will also invite you into the intimacy of a family's heart - the hope, the love, and the courage it took to carry on, and for some, to overcome the strikes against them into which they were born.
Not to mention a dose of psychic abilities on the maternal side of the family to spice things up!

What will touch your heart, as well as set it racing, is that this is NOT a novel. This is a memoir of Suzanna Lonchar's family, as told to her by her mother, the "Rose" of the story title. You won't believe the situations Rose gets into and survives as a child, and her eventual very different life than that which she knew in Brooklyn. The story is told in Rose's voice. While this story has the violence of mafios, including neighborhood encounters with some very framous gangsters, it tells these stories from a woman's point of view, which is what is utterly different about THIS Italian-American tale. And the crime scene is only one scene of many, it does not dominate - all the characters in this story are grippingly real. You will feel their struggles and their triumphs, and feel as though you know these people yourself before you're done.

Sit back and treat yourself to a compelling story that will keep you wondering what could possibly happen next, and rooting for Rosie all the way!

Few children's book today can capture and engage my chidren's interest as much as BROTHERS. The illustrations reminds me of my history books I've collected about China. Obviously the illustrator have done his homework. All the details are richly depicted and accurately painted. If you want to know about Chinese American history or how Chinatown came to be, BROTHERS is a must have. This is a wonderful gift for any teacher or student wanting to learn about multi-cultural history. Although this is a children's book, this book is a welcome addition to all social studies curriculum on elementary, middle-school and high school levels. College art school professors can benefit by sharing with their students the beautiful watercolour and realistic paintings. Very few children's book today can capture the historical sensitivity and realism than Soentpiet's work.

The main character in this book is a young Chinese immigrant who comes to San Francisco to help his (slightly) older brothers. Like many immigrants, they live and stay in an isolated community- and like many immigrants, they have good reason to be afraid of those on the outside. However, the young boy yearns for companionship of people his own age, and soon makes a friend of a young Irish immigrant. The two form an instant friendship, and through that the boy is able to save his family's store and eventually reunite his brothers.

In adult American history, much stress is put on the competition for resources and the animosity, resentment and violence that immigrant groups suffered as a result- particularly the very unprotected Chinese. All of that is implied in the older brother's warning that the boy should stay "with his own kind." However, it bears repeating, particularly in a children's story, that cooperation is far better for groups than tooth-baring competition. We can only hope that these two continued their friendship as they grew older and found other ways of bringing such cooperation to both of their communities.

We spoke to the author after hearing the book read on a children's TV show early one morning. My mom said the painting of the green grocer actually looked like my grandfather who passed away in 1949 before I was born. It gave us great pride in our family. The book captures the age before readily available voice technology. Those immigrants could not reach back to their loved ones without using very slow mail. How difficult that must have been.

The words maybe of a childrens book but the paintings are great for all to enjoy. I actually was a friend of Mary's, my Dad and I. The pictures truly catch the essence of the people who posed for them! The pictures were painted of real people including many that I know! It is an beautiful book no matter how you look at it.

Having similar background & experienced "emigrating" experiences to Canada & US, I connected easily to the experiences of the immigrant. So little has been written about Guyana, its people & its trials thus far. This is insightful,informative,descriptive, humourous,& moving,tinged with exotic Indian flavor & romance.

Having similar background & experienced "emigrating" experiences to Canada & US, I connected easily to the experiences of the immigrant. So little has been written about Guyana, its people & its trials thus far. This is insightful,informative,descriptive, humourous,& moving,tinged with exotic Indian flavor & romance.

Carnival Of Freaks: The One-Man Plan to Save America is an entertaining and thought provoking exploration into the mind of the author, US House candidate Alexander Fry. This is a very well researched and well written exposition on Mr. Fry's views of the social and political imperitives facing America. Whether you may agree or disagree with his stand on the issues, you definitely know where he stands. While some may say that this One Man's plan may not save America, it will certainly entertain and inspire all Americans who read it.

This book is very insightful and entertaining to read. Mr. Fry writes about his life in such a manner that as a reader you can't help but become engaged. You find yourself laughing out loud, or cheering for him as he battles with Notre Dame's elite. I would definitely recommend this book to any reader.