“Many immigrants do not talk about what they endured back home. They were fleeing that world, and when they left they didn't want to talk about it because there had been pain and heartbreak under the caste system of the South. They didn't want to burden their children with what they had endured.” WorldWantChildrenHomePainLeftSouthBurdenImmigrantsBack HomeCastesFleeingCaste System Author:Isabel Wilkerson
“John Steinbeck's 'The Grapes of Wrath' also speaks urgently to today's concerns: the cratered trail of dreams for Mexican immigrants seeking a promised land in the Western [United States]; the perfidy of banks in foreclosing on poor people's homes; and the insurgent urge of the book's protagonist, Tom Joad, to speak truth to police power. 'Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy,' Tom promises, 'I'll be there.' In Salinas, Calif., Ferguson, Mo., or Staten Island, N.Y., Tom's truth goes marching on.” PeopleBookStatesHomeDreamTodayGuySpeakPoorUnitedUnited StatesLandPromiseConcernPoliceWesternSeekingIslandsUrgesImmigrantsTomsCopPoor PeopleTrailsWrathMexicanGrapesSpeak The TruthProtagonistsInsurgentPromised LandFergusonPolice PowerPerfidyMarching On Author:Richard Corliss
“Christina Baker Kline writes exquisitely about two unlikely friends—one, a 91-year-old survivor of the grinding poverty of rural Ireland, immigrant New York and the hardscrabble Midwest; and the other, a casualty of a string of foster homes—each struggling to transcend a past of isolation and hardship. Orphan Train will hold you in its grip as their fascinating tales unfold.” WritingYearsTwoHomePastPovertyStruggleNew YorkTrainTalesIsolationFascinatingImmigrantsStringsHardshipSurvivorIrelandUnlikelyOrphanCasualtiesBakersMidwestChristina Author:Cathy Marie Buchanan
“I don't know exactly why the notion of homeownership has such a grasp on the American imagination. Perhaps as descendants of landless immigrants we turn our plots into symbols of stability.” KnowsHomeTurnsImaginationNotionSymbolsPlotImmigrantsStabilityDescendantsHomeownership Book:Close to Home Source: Close to Home