Skip to main content
Book jacket
The good immigrant : 26 writers reflect on America
2019

Book

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 inches 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.

Item Details

ISBN: 9780316524285

Edition: First edition.

Description: xii, 324 pages ; 22 cm

Other Title:

  • 26 writers reflect on America
  • Twenty-six writers reflect on America

Notes:

  • Includes bibliographical references.
  • Text in English.

Contents:

  • How to write Iranian-America, or the last essay / Porochista Khakpour
  • Swimmer / Nicole Dennis-Benn
  • Sidra (in 12 movements) / Rahawa Haile
  • On the blackness of the panther / Teju Cole
  • How not to be / Priya Minhas
  • After migration: the once and future kings / Walé Oyéjidé
  • On loneliness / Fatimah Asghar
  • Chooey-Booey and brown / Tejal Rao
  • Luck of the Irish / Maeve Higgins
  • Her name was India / Krutika Mallikarjuna
  • Shithole nation / Jim St. Germain
  • Blond girls in Cheongsams / Jenny Zhang
  • The naked man / Chigozie Obioma
  • Your father's country / Alexander Chee
  • The long answer / Yann Mounir Demange
  • An American, told / Jean Hannah Edelstein
  • On being Kim Kardashian / Chimene Suleyman
  • Tour Diary / Basim Usmani
  • Dispatches from the language wars / Daniel José Older
  • Juana Azurduy versus Christopher Columbus / Adrián and Sebastián Villar Rojas
  • No es suficiente / Dani Fernandez
  • Skittles / Fatima Farheen Mirza
  • Return to Macondo / Susanne Ramirez de Arellano
  • 244 Million / Mona Chalabi
  • How to center your own story / Jade Chang.

LCCN: 2018956904

Control Number: 2693644

Publisher: New York : Little, Brown and Company, 2019.

Subjects:

Other Authors:

Accessibility Preferences
Adjust Font Size
Default
Adjust Contrast
Change Font Style
My Account Services Search Location Barcode