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This land is our land : an immigrant's manifesto / Suketu Mehta.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019Edition: First editionDescription: x, 306 pages ; 21 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780374276027
  • 0374276021
Subject(s):
Contents:
Part I: The migrants are coming. A planet on the move ; The fence : amargo y dulce ; Ordinary heroes ; Two sides of a strait -- Part II: Why they're coming. Colonialism ; The new colonialism ; War ; Climate change -- Part III: Why they're feared. The populists' false narrative ; A brief history of fear ; Culture : shitholes versus Nordics ; The color of hate ; The alliance between the mob and capital ; The refugee as pariah -- Part 4: Why they should be welcomed. Jaikisan Heights ; Jobs, crime, and culture : the threats that aren't ; We do not come empty-handed ; Immigration as reparations -- Epilogue: Family, reunified--and expanded.
Summary: "There are few subjects in American life that prompt more discussion and rancor these days than immigration. In [this book], the renowned author Suketu Mehta offers a reality-based polemic that vitally clarifies the debate. Drawing on his own experience as an Indian-born teenager growing up in New York City and on years of reporting around the globe, Mehta subjects the worldwide anti-immigrant backlash to withering scrutiny. As he explains, the West is being destroyed not by immigrants but by fear of immigrants. Ranging from Dubai and Morocco to New York City, Mehta contrasts the phony narratives of populist ideologues with the ordinary heroism of laborers, domestic workers, and others, and he takes readers on a heartbreaking trip to San Diego and Tijuana, where a border fence divides families and damages lives. Throughout, Mehta shows why more people are on the move today than ever before. As civil strife and climate change reshape large parts of the planet, it is little surprise that borders have become so porous. But Mehta also stresses the destructive legacies of colonialism and global inequality in large swaths of the world: when today's immigrants are asked, "Why are you here?" they can justly respond, "We are here because you were there." And now that they are here, Mehta contends, they bring great benefits, enabling countries and communities to flourish. Impassioned, rigorous, and richly stocked with memorable stories and characters, [this book] is an urgent and necessary intervention, and a literary argument of the highest order."--Dust jacket.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 305.9069 M498 Available 33111009163995
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A 2019 NPR Staff Pick

"Written 'in sorrow and anger,' this is a brilliant and urgently necessary book, eloquently making the case against bigotry and for all of us migrants--what we are not, who we are, and why we deserve to be welcomed, not feared." --Salman Rushdie

A timely argument for why the United States and the West would benefit from accepting more immigrants

There are few subjects in American life that prompt more discussion and controversy than immigration. But do we really understand it? In This Land Is Our Land , the renowned author Suketu Mehta attacks the issue head-on. Drawing on his own experience as an Indian-born teenager growing up in New York City and on years of reporting around the world, Mehta subjects the worldwide anti-immigrant backlash to withering scrutiny. As he explains, the West is being destroyed not by immigrants but by the fear of immigrants. Mehta juxtaposes the phony narratives of populist ideologues with the ordinary heroism of laborers, nannies, and others, from Dubai to Queens, and explains why more people are on the move today than ever before. As civil strife and climate change reshape large parts of the planet, it is little surprise that borders have become so porous. But Mehta also stresses the destructive legacies of colonialism and global inequality on large swaths of the world: When today's immigrants are asked, "Why are you here?" they can justly respond, "We are here because you were there." And now that they are here, as Mehta demonstrates, immigrants bring great benefits, enabling countries and communities to flourish. Impassioned, rigorous, and richly stocked with memorable stories and characters, This Land Is Our Land is a timely and necessary intervention, and a literary polemic of the highest order.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [243]-289) and index.

Part I: The migrants are coming. A planet on the move ; The fence : amargo y dulce ; Ordinary heroes ; Two sides of a strait -- Part II: Why they're coming. Colonialism ; The new colonialism ; War ; Climate change -- Part III: Why they're feared. The populists' false narrative ; A brief history of fear ; Culture : shitholes versus Nordics ; The color of hate ; The alliance between the mob and capital ; The refugee as pariah -- Part 4: Why they should be welcomed. Jaikisan Heights ; Jobs, crime, and culture : the threats that aren't ; We do not come empty-handed ; Immigration as reparations -- Epilogue: Family, reunified--and expanded.

"There are few subjects in American life that prompt more discussion and rancor these days than immigration. In [this book], the renowned author Suketu Mehta offers a reality-based polemic that vitally clarifies the debate. Drawing on his own experience as an Indian-born teenager growing up in New York City and on years of reporting around the globe, Mehta subjects the worldwide anti-immigrant backlash to withering scrutiny. As he explains, the West is being destroyed not by immigrants but by fear of immigrants. Ranging from Dubai and Morocco to New York City, Mehta contrasts the phony narratives of populist ideologues with the ordinary heroism of laborers, domestic workers, and others, and he takes readers on a heartbreaking trip to San Diego and Tijuana, where a border fence divides families and damages lives. Throughout, Mehta shows why more people are on the move today than ever before. As civil strife and climate change reshape large parts of the planet, it is little surprise that borders have become so porous. But Mehta also stresses the destructive legacies of colonialism and global inequality in large swaths of the world: when today's immigrants are asked, "Why are you here?" they can justly respond, "We are here because you were there." And now that they are here, Mehta contends, they bring great benefits, enabling countries and communities to flourish. Impassioned, rigorous, and richly stocked with memorable stories and characters, [this book] is an urgent and necessary intervention, and a literary argument of the highest order."--Dust jacket.

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