An Immigrant Class: Oral Histories from Chicago's Newest Immigrants

by Jeff Libman

An Immigrant Class documents the immigrant experience through 20 first-person stories and duotone photographs of recent immigrants to Chicago from around the world. Each immigrant reveals the unique... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• ISBN: 0974142905
• ISBN13: 9780974142906
• Release Date: August 2004
• Publisher: Flying Kite, Inc.
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 2.80 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A story about all of us

Jeff is able to capture and without filtering report on life stories of individuals like you and me who are on their way to becoming American citizens. Great compilation of stories that everyne can relate to, makes you stop and think. Great read!

Stories that will expand your world.

If you're a teacher, if you care about education, if you come from a family of immigrants, if you care about how immigrants affect and change this country, you should read this book. You can also read it as a sort of travel book -- a journey through many countries across the globe, with a local guide who tells you about how people really live there. Libman teachers English as a Second Language at Truman College in Chicago, and in for this book he has interviewed a wide range of former students. This book is a collection of their stories, told in their own words, about where they came from, how they came to the U.S., and the struggles they faced along the way. I have recommended this book to people who work with immigrants, to teachers, and to people who have very little contact with immigrants and don't understand the challenges they face. Each person offers a brief, but vivid picture of his or her life. They may remind you of stories from your own family or they may inspire you to explore a new place or find out about the immigrants who live all around you. Here is an excerpt from one person's story, which I think gives you a taste of the book: "What I think is to be immigrant--what an immigrant feel, only an immigrant can really understand. But really, when you know that you are closing the door you have behind, it is closed, and you are opening a door that you doesn't know what is in front of you, you doesn't know your destiny, it is really hard, really hard. You have to change the way you think sometimes. You have to change some of your culture. You're obligated to change. Not everything. I don't mean you have to Americanize, but I mean you have to make a lot of change. And it is really hard. Everybody are not so lucky like us" You can also view excerpts and pictures from this book at: http://www.animmigrantclass.com/index.html