Abdi Nor Iftin first fell in love with America from afar. As a child, he learned English by listening to American pop and watching action films starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. When U.S. marines landed in Mogadishu to take on the warlords, Abdi cheered the arrival of these Americans, who seemed as heroic as those of the movies. Sporting American clothes and dance moves, he became known around Mogadishu as Abdi American, but when the radical...
Well-written memoirs offer windows into exclusive worlds, whether wild adventures, remote locales, or distinct moments in history. These first-person accounts of the U.S. immigration experience shed light on a variety of cultures, historic events, and personal circumstances.