An Immigrant's Love Letter to the West

Author: Konstantin Kisin
Publisher: Constable
ISBN: 1408716038
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 202

Book Description
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'A lively and spirited book' DOUGLAS MURRAY 'A paean to the freedom and dignity that many in the West take for granted' PETER BOGHOSSIAN 'A cool, steady but urgent message that we should value and protect what we have' SPIKED 'Kisin's book [has] a powerful moral quality that makes it worth reading' SUNDAY TIMES For all of the West's failings - terrible food, cold weather, and questionable politicians with funny hair to name a few - it has its upsides. Konstantin would know. Growing up in the Soviet Union, he experienced first-hand the horrors of a socialist paradise gone wrong, having lived in extreme poverty with little access to even the most basic of necessities. It wasn't until he moved to the UK that Kisin found himself thriving in an open and tolerant society, receiving countless opportunities he would never have had otherwise. Funny, provocative and unswervingly perceptive, An Immigrant's Love letter to the West interrogates the developing sense of self-loathing the Western sphere has adopted and offers an alternative perspective. Exploring race politics, free speech, immigration and more, Kisin argues that wrongdoing and guilt need not pervade how we feel about the West - and Britain - today, and that despite all its ups and downs, it remains one of the best places to live in the world. After all, if an immigrant can't publicly profess their appreciation for this country, who can?

Summary of Konstantin Kisin's An Immigrant's Love Letter to the West

Author: Everest Media,
Publisher: Everest Media LLC
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 32

Book Description
Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 In the 1980s, it was common for black families to give their children advice about how to act if they were stopped by the police, as this could be a consequence of having an unpopular opinion in the Soviet Union. #2 The Pavlik Morozov story is a perfect example of how communist leaders praised a disloyal teenage boy who threw his own family under the bus for the sake of a failed political philosophy. #3 Bernie Sanders, a politician in America, promotes socialism to the masses as if it’s some magical panacea, despite the fact he earns nearly $200,000 per year as a senator. The danger of this sort of stupidity was clear back in the 1980s, when Sanders lived it up with the West’s enemy. #4 The education system in Russia was also artificially flattened to stop inequalities manifesting later in life. The Soviet system was also free healthcare and racial unrest was entirely absent.

Lovers and Strangers

Author: Clair Wills
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141974966
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 525

Book Description
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2018 TLS BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2017 'Generous and empathetic ... opens up postwar migration in all its richness' Sukhdev Sandhu, Guardian 'Groundbreaking, sophisticated, original, open-minded ... essential reading for anyone who wants to understand not only the transformation of British society after the war but also its character today' Piers Brendon, Literary Review 'Lyrical, full of wise and original observations' David Goodhart, The Times The battered and exhausted Britain of 1945 was desperate for workers - to rebuild, to fill the factories, to make the new NHS work. From all over the world and with many motives, thousands of individuals took the plunge. Most assumed they would spend just three or four years here, sending most of their pay back home, but instead large numbers stayed - and transformed the country. Drawing on an amazing array of unusual and surprising sources, Clair Wills' wonderful new book brings to life the incredible diversity and strangeness of the migrant experience. She introduces us to lovers, scroungers, dancers, homeowners, teachers, drinkers, carers and many more to show the opportunities and excitement as much as the humiliation and poverty that could be part of the new arrivals' experience. Irish, Bengalis, West Indians, Poles, Maltese, Punjabis and Cypriots battled to fit into an often shocked Britain and, to their own surprise, found themselves making permanent homes. As Britain picked itself up again in the 1950s migrants set about changing life in their own image, through music, clothing, food, religion, but also fighting racism and casual and not so casual violence. Lovers and Strangers is an extremely important book, one that is full of enjoyable surprises, giving a voice to a generation who had to deal with the reality of life surrounded by 'white strangers' in their new country.

We Have Overcome

Author: Jason D. Hill
Publisher: Bombardier Books
ISBN: 1682617319
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 132

Book Description
It has been more than fifty years since the Civil Rights Act enshrined equality under the law for all Americans. Since that time, America has enjoyed an era of unprecedented prosperity, domestic and international peace, and technological advancement. It’s almost as if removing the shackles of enforced racial discrimination has liberated Americans of all races and ethnicities to become their better selves, and to work toward common goals in ways that our ancestors would have envied. But the dominant narrative, repeated in the media and from the angry mouths of politicians and activists, is the exact opposite of the reality. They paint a portrait of an America rife with racial and ethnic division, where minorities are mired in a poverty worse than slavery, and white people stand at the top of an unfairly stacked pyramid of privilege. Jason D. Hill corrects the narrative in this powerfully eloquent book. Dr. Hill came to this country at the age of twenty from Jamaica and, rather than being faced with intractable racial bigotry, Hill found a land of bountiful opportunity—a place where he could get a college education, earn a doctorate in philosophy, and eventually become a tenured professor at a top university, an internationally recognized scholar, and the author of several respected books in his field. Throughout his experiences, it wasn’t a racist establishment that sought to keep him down. Instead, Hill recounts, he faced constant naysaying from so-called liberals of all races. His academic colleagues did not celebrate the success of a black immigrant but chose to denigrate them because this particular black immigrant did not embrace their ideology of victimization. Part memoir, part exhortation to his fellow Americans, and, above all, a paean to the American Dream and the magnificent country that makes it possible, We Have Overcome is the most important and provocative book about race relations to be published in this century.

Love Letter To America

Author: Tomas Schuman
Publisher: Mayside Books
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 83

Book Description
Yuri Alexandrovich Bezmenov, was a former KGB officer and journalist who worked for the Novosti Press Agency and who ultimately defected from the Soviet Union to Canada. Yuri chose freedom. Writing as Tomas Schuman in Love Letter to America, Yuri describes Soviet genocidal Communism and explains how good it is to be free.

Meet Me in Venice

Author: Suzanne Ma
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442239379
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 193

Book Description
When Ye Pei dreamed of Venice as a girl, she imagined a magical floating city of canals and gondola rides. And she imagined her mother, successful in her new life and eager to embrace the daughter she had never forgotten. But when Ye Pei arrives in Italy, she learns her mother works on a farm far from the city. Her only connection, a mean-spirited Chinese auntie, puts Ye Pei to work in a small-town café. Rather than giving up and returning to China, a determined Ye Pei takes on a grueling schedule, resolving to save enough money to provide her family with a better future. A groundbreaking work of journalism, Meet Me in Venice provides a personal, intimate account of Chinese individuals in the very act ofmigration. Suzanne Ma spent years in China and Europe to understand why Chinese people choose to immigrate to nations where they endure hardship, suspicion, manual labor and separation from their loved ones. Today all eyes are on China and its explosive economic growth. With the rise of the Chinese middle class, Chinese communities around the world are growing in size and prosperity, a development many westerners find unsettling and even threatening. Following Ye Pei’s undaunted path, this inspiring book is an engrossing read for those eager to understand contemporary China and the enormous impact of Chinese emigrants around the world.

Through the Eyes of an Immigrant

Author: Anatole Konstantin
Publisher: Konstantin Memoirs
ISBN: 9781944785031
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 430

Book Description
In this biographical follow-up book to "A Red Boyhood -- Growing up Under Stalin," author Anatole Konstantin tells us what happened after he got to America from the unique viewpoint of an immigrant from Soviet Russia arriving in 1949. His views on American life, Soviet history and American politics are an important perspective for today's reader.

With this Pledge

Author: Tamera Alexander
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
ISBN: 0718081846
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 448

Book Description
From the pages of history and the personal accounts of those who endured the Battle of Franklin, Tamera Alexander weaves real-life love letters into a story of unlikely romance first kindled amid the shadows of the Civil War. “Beautifully-drawn characters and rich history in With This Pledge work seamlessly to demonstrate that Christ’s love and romantic love can triumph even in our darkest moments.” —Lynn Austin, bestselling author Elizabeth “Lizzie” Clouston’s quietly held principles oppose those of the Southern Cause—but when forty thousand soldiers converge on the fields of Franklin, Tennessee, the war demands an answer. The Carnton home where she is governess is converted into a Confederate field hospital, and Lizzie is called upon to assist the military doctor with surgeries that determine life or death. Faced with the unimaginable, she must summon fortitude, even as she fears for the life of Towny, her fiancé and lifelong friend. As a young soldier lies dying in Lizzie’s arms, she vows to relay his final words to his mother, but knows little more than the boy’s first name. That same night, decorated Mississippi sharpshooter Captain Roland Ward Jones extracts a different promise from Lizzie: that she intervene should the surgeon decide to amputate his leg. Lizzie is nothing if not a woman of her word, earning the soldiers’ respect as she tends to the wounded within Carnton’s walls. None is more admiring than Captain Jones, who doesn’t realize she is pledged to another. But as Lizzie’s heart softens toward the Confederate captain, she discovers that his moral ground is at odds with her own. Now torn between love, principles, and promises made, she struggles to be true to her heart while standing for what she knows is right—no matter the cost. From the pages of history and the personal accounts of those who endured the Battle of Franklin, Tamera Alexander weaves the real-life love letters between Captain Roland Ward Jones and Miss Elizabeth Clouston into a story of unlikely romance first kindled amid the shadows of war. “Alexander’s With This Pledge dusts off the archives and breathes life into the Battle of Franklin: believed to be the most brutal battle in the Civil War. Through Tamera Alexander’s indomitable heroine, Lizzie Clouston, who transforms from governess to nurse out of necessity, we find ourselves contemplating our own inner strength should we also be faced with the unthinkable. Tamera Alexander’s With This Pledge is not only historical fiction at its finest, but its most compelling.” —Jolina Petersheim, bestselling author of How the Light Gets In “Tamera Alexander has once again given readers a beautifully written story full of strong characters and tender romance—all while staying true to the actual history of the people and events she describes. From the horrors of war to the hope of blossoming love, Lizzie and Roland’s story will live in my heart for a very long time.” —Anne Mateer, author of Playing by Heart

Becoming Americans

Author: Ilan Stavans
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781598532906
Category : SOCIAL SCIENCE
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Comprised mostly of memoirs with some fiction, this volume gathers selections from the writings of 85 immigrants from 45 countries that illustrate the changing views of immigrants in the United States.

Letters from Rifka

Author: Karen Hesse
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company (BYR)
ISBN: 1466801328
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Book Description
From Newbery media winner Karen Hesse comes an unforgettable story of an immigrant family's journey to America. "America," the girl repeated. "What will you do there?" I was silent for a little time. "I will do everything there," I answered. Rifka knows nothing about America when she flees from Russia with her family in 1919. But she dreams that in the new country she will at last be safe from the Russian soldiers and their harsh treatment of the Jews. Throughout her journey, Rifka carries with her a cherished volume of poetry by Alexander Pushkin. In it, she records her observations and experiences in the form of letters to Tovah, the beloved cousin she has left behind. Strong-hearted and determined, Rifka must endure a great deal: humiliating examinations by doctors and soldiers, deadly typhus, separation from all she has ever known and loved, murderous storms at sea, detainment on Ellis Island--and is if this is not enough, the loss of her glorious golden hair. Based on a true story from the author's family, Letters from Rifka presents a real-life heroine with an uncommon courage and unsinkable spirit.