THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER
“This riveting, courageous memoir ought to be mandatory reading for every American.” —Michelle Alexander, New York Times bestselling author of The New Jim Crow
“l cried reading this book, realizing more fully what my parents endured.” —Amy Tan, New York Times bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club and Where the Past Begins
“This book couldn’t be more timely and more … New York Times bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club and Where the Past Begins
“This book couldn’t be more timely and more necessary.” —Dave Eggers, New York Times bestselling author of What Is the What and The Monk of Mokha
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
more
Read it, feel it at a gut level, and go beyond the noise of hate politics… This is a book about America. l cried reading this book, realizing more fully what my parents endured.
Couldn’t be more timely and more necessary… a deeply personal and multilayered story told so gently and with such affection and humor
Jose Antonio Vargas’s powerful memoir is among many things a celebration of the millions of Americans who make immigrants like us feel at home in their country, regardless of our legal status, regardless of how much daily hostility we face. May this book cause their ranks to swell.
Jose Antonio Vargas’s eloquent and emotional book bears witness to a basic truth: we should not be defined by our legal status, but by who we are…His voice is an important voice that needs to be heard by all Americans, whether they are Americans by birth or by choice.
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.
This important book could not be more timely — Jose Antonio Vargas has put a human face on one of the most defining and polarizing issues of our time: immigration. Dear America is not a book about politics or policy; it is written from the very depths of the human heart.
Finished this one in two days! I couldn’t put it down. It was as if my mother were reading to me about her life, supporting all people. She truly did, marching with Cesar Chavez, working on farms, so did I. We were never “too good” as ‘white people!’
This book though; amazing, horrific and brought me to tears.
We must do something to end ALL FORMS of discrimination!
This week I’ve spoken with several guests on my show about mental health & illness. While reading #Dearamerica I couldn’t help but ponder the psychological affects on children that are being told their illegal, after being brought to America. They too are seeking the chance for a better life. Are we dehumanizing people? How can a person be “illegal” anyway?
.
My mother raised me to respect everyone, despite their religion, nationality, skin color, gender, sexual orientation or psychological state. Everyone should be treated with respect, decency and kindness. I looked up immigrant, it states: im·mi·grant
ˈiməɡrənt/Submit
noun
a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country.
Everyone coming to this country immigrated. 70%+ of Americans are immigrants! Why are we treating people that call the USA their home, so poorly? Jose is innocent, he came here through no choice of his own. He is an upstanding citizen, and contributes to our economy and has made a positive contribution to the world of journalism.
.
#humanize
#advocate
#undocumented
#redefineamerica
#joseantoniovargas
#journalism
#pulitzer
#mindfulness
#filipinoamerican
#borders
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.
This is a very personal story of child who comes to American from the Philippines and did not understand he was considered an undocumented person. In order to be able to stay in the United States and to support himself he was forced to lie. He becomes very successful as a journalist. As a person who was born in The United States I have learned an entirely new viewpoint and perspective on the subject.
Also relevant, timely, past timely, and enough is enough!
A candid account of one person with a seemingly unattainable goal. To be a legal united states citizen.
N
A true story that reveals how broken our immigration can be.
Our immigration system is so twisted and strange. I enjoyed the book but it made me angry.
A real education on migration. There is NO way to Citizenship in USA and hasn’t been for many years. When mouthing off about how “they” should get their Citizenship, know that if you didn’t have your Citizenship, you could not get it.
I couldn’t stop listening. Jose’s narrative and journey through our immigration process reminded me of the wounds it can leave on entire families as they try so desperately to reunite/live in the land of the free.
This is a must read for anyone who’s willing to listen to and understand the lengths people go through to earn their place in America.
Everyone who has ever uttered an entitled phrase, “why don’t those illegal immigrants just go through the due process” should read this book to understand the reality behind the immigrants’ struggles. Jose Antonio Vargas, who was brought from the Philippines to the United States as a child to be reunited with his grandparents (legal residents of the US) discovers – by sheer accident – that he was brought into the country illegally when he goes to get a driver’s license and finds out that his green card is fake. From that point on, his entire life becomes one huge lie, a limbo that nearly destroys him psychologically at one point, with seemingly no way out of the legal mess he was entirely innocent of. Despite all, he goes on to become a highly successful journalist who worked for such celebrated editions as Washington Post, Huffington Post, and even won a Pulitzer Prize as part of his team. All the while remaining in the country illegally.
In his memoir, Vargas explains not only his personal struggles to “earn the right” to call himself an American, but the tangled legal mess that leaves people like him little to no chance to legalize themselves in the only country they know as their home. My heart ached for him and I actually felt his desperation whenever he agonized over the decision to publicize his status and become an advocate for millions of people. I admired his bravery and the bravery and integrity of the people and politicians who helped him on his way. With his personal story, Vargas sends a message to everyone who still entertains the whole “us vs them” idea: we are all one nation – the nation of immigrants; the immigrants are here to work for their American dream, they aren’t criminals or gang members as the conservative media portrays them as; immigrants pay billions of taxes using false SSN numbers without claiming anything back; immigrants are here to make America better, not worse.
Stop the irrational, xenophobic fear of anything foreign, get to know these people and their stories, open your mind and heart to them. We are all immigrants, just belonging to different waves of immigration. Some were fortunate to arrive on a boat and didn’t need any visas and some have to jump through the countless legal hoops to prove that they belong here because after colonizing multiple countries, the US suddenly decided to close its own borders to the rest of the world.
Read this memoir. It’s such an eye-opening account.
I didn’t understand many of the difficulties that non-citizens face before reading this book. The style is a bit dis-jointed and non-linear which may be just right for the message.
Realistic and tragic because of the truths it presents.
I did not like that that the author did not tell us where she went to school and Chicago and was so vague about the details of her life.