An urgent collection
of essays by first and second-generation immigrants, exploring what
it's like to be othered 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 in. 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.