The Penguin Book of Migration Literature

THE PENGUIN BOOK OF MIGRATION LITERATURE by Dohra Ahmad, a professor of English at St. John’s University, is split into four sections: Departures, Arrivals, Generations, and Returns, plus a foreword by award-winning author Edwidge Danticat. Honestly, I have been very excited about this book and have several teachers who may consider using it with their classes. The selections here are varied – in terms of genre (poetry, essay, memoir, story); in terms of geography (to/from countries in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia) and in terms of time (ranging from colonial times to the 21st century). As a result, there is plenty of choice for sparking student interest and adding to the curriculum. Many of the authors (e.g., Mohsin Hamid, Julie Otsuka, Salman Rushdie and Marjane Satrapi to name just a few) will be ones students already know and read or ones to whom they should be introduced. Booklist says, “Recommended for teens: The diversity of viewpoints and genres makes for an invaluable introduction to the personal dimensions of global immigration.” I am truly looking forward to working with teachers and to developing projects related to these readings which deal with issues like the motivations for migrating, the reality (and sometimes disappointment) of reaching a destination, the different experiences for children and parents, and the multi-directional nature of movement.  Thank you to Penguin and to Dohra Ahmad for compiling the much needed collection (accompanied by almost twenty pages of suggestions for further reading and viewing) in THE PENGUIN BOOK OF MIGRATION LITERATURE.

A Good American Family by Davd Maraniss

In the last few weeks we have heard a good deal about The Statue of Liberty from sources like NPR, The Nation, Fox News, or The Los Angeles Times, for example. Her image also graces the cover of a recent book, A GOOD AMERICAN FAMILY by David Maraniss, a Pulitzer Prize Winner. In his newest non-fiction work, Maraniss tells his own father’s story from the 1950s and the Red Scare.  In 1952, Elliott Maraniss, a WWII veteran, was named an active member of the Communist Party of the United States of America and subpoenaed to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee. When testifying, he invoked the Fifth Amendment, but still lost his newspaper job and spent several years looking for meaningful employment. The author says, “I emerged with a clearer appreciation of the imperfections of the American story -- and with a better understanding of my father, our family, and its secrets.” This is a fascinating look at a tumultuous time in American politics and media --- the HUAC was chaired by a member of the Ku Klux Klan who cited testimony from Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson. Also mentioned are names like Louella Parsons, Arthur Miller and George W. Crockett, Jr., the African American civil liberties lawyer.  This text contains notes, an index, maps, and several black and white photos.  A GOOD AMERICAN FAMILY received starred reviews from Library Journal and Publishers Weekly. It is a timely work -- reflecting articles in today’s New York Times about targeting journalists who investigate the White House and about immigrants coming to the United States where that famous statue still provides inspiration. 

A Good Provider is One Who Leaves by Jason DeParle

A GOOD PROVIDER IS ONE WHO LEAVES by Jason DeParle is a non-fiction work that deals with “One Family and Migration in the 21st Century.” DeParle, a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, builds on his decades long acquaintance with Tita Comodas to tell her family’s story of life in the Philippines and assimilation by her daughter (Rosalie) and grandchildren in the United States.  He was able to immerse himself in their experience – recently (beginning in 2012) following shifts at work, observing the children in classrooms and having nearly daily contact for a few years. DeParle says, “[the family’s] experiences across three generations can only be understood as part of a broader epoch of migration that is transforming much of the world.” 

In an accessible and engaging manner, he splits the book into two parts: There and Here, combining anecdotes about Rosalie’s becoming a nurse in the Philippines (and working in Saudi Arabia and UAE before moving to Texas) with immigration facts and context. Roughly fifteen percent of DeParle’s book is devoted to extensive notes and a helpful index. The facts that he relates in the prologue alone are pretty amazing: consider that one in four children in the United States is an immigrant or a child of one; or that there are 258 million migrants around the world, assuming an equal size (if not bigger) population back home that they support, this group of half a billion would together form the world’s third largest country. DeParle writes, “my own light bulb moment came in learning that remittances – the sums migrants send home – are three times the world’s foreign aid budgets combined.”  A GOOD PROVIDER IS ONE WHO LEAVES received starred reviews from Booklist (“family story [that] will captivate YAs interested in immigration and globalization”), Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly. For more of his observations follow the link to an interview on NPR.

American Values ...

WE THE PEOPLE: The 500-Year Battle Over Who Is American by Ben Railton is part of the American Ways Series from Rowman & Littlefield. Railton is Professor of English Studies and Coordinator of American Studies at Fitchburg State University in Massachusetts.  In this new text he provides a general introduction, noting that ‘we’ is “an ambiguous pronoun” which has “consistently moved between two poles,” an exclusionary one and an inclusive one. Railton then uses eight chapters to discuss specific “case studies” from the history of the Americas, such as the Conquistadors, later Indian removal, Chinese exclusion, Japanese internment and discrimination against Muslims to illustrate his points, often by citing actions AND reactions of lesser known figures. The xenophobic and white supremacist comments he includes from the 1920s are chilling. Of course, this is also such a timely topic – The New York Times recently ran an article on What Makes an American? and today published a story on changing policy relative to green card holders.  

Although Railton clearly favors one perspective, he advocates for greater understanding and notes a significant number of sources, many of which, like Roger Daniels’ Coming to America, are in our collection and used frequently.  One that Railton neglected to mention is A Place at the Table by Maria Fleming which is similar in that it discusses (although much more briefly) several of the same examples of exclusionary practices in a generally chronological format. Also worth noting is Linda R. Monk’s use of numerous primary sources (and again, a chronological presentation) in her text titled Ordinary Americans that looks more at everyday experiences. Overall, Railton’s additional suggestions appear especially useful in that they encompass a number of publishers and relatively recent titles.  

JEFFERSON, MADISON, AND THE MAKING OF THE CONSTITUTION by Jeff Broadwater is a newly published work from The University of North Carolina Press. Broadwater is an historian who has written texts about James Madison, George Mason and also about other revolutionary founders. This latest work is clearly well-researched (roughly a fourth of the book is notes and source lists) and likely to be of interest to faculty members. Broadwater makes the points “neither Jefferson nor Madison got the Constitution that he really wanted” and offers a thorough exploration of the two men’s “evolution of thought,” particularly in the context of events between 1776 and 1789. 

I originally requested  a preview of this title because I thought it might be used in our Civics classes in order to probe some of the history and concepts related to the Constitution.  Unfortunately, I think Broadwater’s text is too dense and assumes too much prior knowledge of American history (on the part of our students) to be useful in that way for high school classes. Other academics and historians are more likely to appreciate his work in comparing and contrasting these two statesmen, debating, for example Broadwater’s summary comment: “Jefferson left a more profound imprint on the American psyche. Madison made a greater impact on American law.”