| Edition |
First edition |
| Description |
xv, 222 pages ; 22 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [217]-222). |
| Contents |
UPON ARRIVAL IN AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL: First inspections; Stepping onto the American street; The road to your destination; An exhausted finale -- GENESIS REDUX: Your first unplanned encounter; A mosey in the new neighborhood; Welcome to the free world's wide web; Grocery shopping; The ABCs of American peculiarities; The immigrant's TV guide -- ON RÉSUMÉ WRITING, ESL SCHOOL, AND OTHER POST-ARRIVAL DRUDGERIES: Your life on a page; Back to school again; Your American baptism; Two ways to conjugate; You, second edition -- ON PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, GETTING LOST, AND OTHER POST-ARRIVAL TRIBULATIONS: First transportation woes; Arrival: a tragedy in five acts; Viva la life! Down with death!; Of heaven and hell in the American park -- WELCOME TO SELFISTAN: The birds, the fish, the trees, and the founding fathers; The American: a tribe of one where "I" is king; The exception of the American farewell; Now is the American future; The vices and the virtues; Of an American lover; Love's new language; Your first romance: a few warnings -- THE DIASPORA: CAN'T LIVE WITH THEM, CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT THEM: The abridged catalog of belonging; The good in Diaspora; To be or not to be: in the ethnic enclave; The bad in diaspora; The immigrant's affliction; The ugly in diaspora; The end of cake; And yet, it can be worse -- THE LOVEABLE, THE INEXPLICABLE, AND THE INFURIATING ABOUT AMERICA: A strange brand of generous; On squirrels and Americans; The thanks you owe; What not to learn from Americans; The undoing of America; E as in Émigré, as in Excellence -- ON REFUSING TO MOVE TO THE BACK OF THE AMERICAN BUS: Anti-immigrant vitriol; As the other apple pie; All men are created equal except some men; Give me your poor vs. your fat cats; America's dark future; The most reliable gods; The nine circles of the vetting process; Your story, your prayer; A covenant in red, white, and blue. |
| Summary |
"Into the maelstrom of unprecedented contemporary debates about immigrants in the United States, this perfectly timed book gives us a portrait of what the new immigrant experience in America is really like. Written as a "guide" for the newly arrived, and providing "practical information and advice," Roya Hakakian, an immigrant herself, reveals what those who settle here love about the country, what they miss about their homes, the cruelty of some Americans, and the unceasing generosity of others. She captures the texture of life in a new place in all its complexity, laying bare both its beauty and its darkness as she discusses race, sex, love, death, consumerism, and what it is like to be from a country that is in America's crosshairs. Her tenderly perceptive and surprisingly humorous account invites us to see ourselves as we appear to others, making it possible for us to rediscover our many American gifts through the perspective of the outsider"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Subject |
Immigrants -- United States -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.
|
|
Immigrants -- United States -- Life skills guides.
|
|
United States -- Emigration and immigration -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.
|
|
Emigration and immigration. (OCoLC)fst00908690
|
|
Immigrants. (OCoLC)fst00967712
|
|
United States. (OCoLC)fst01204155
|
|
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Emigration & Immigration.
|
| Genre/Form |
Handbooks and manuals. (OCoLC)fst01423877
|
|
Life skills guides. (OCoLC)fst01423810
|
|
Handbooks and manuals.
|
| Other Form: |
Online version: Hakakian, Roya. Beginner's guide to America New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2021 9780525656074 (DLC) 2020016858 |
| ISBN |
9780525656067 (hardcover) |
|
0525656065 (hardcover) |
|
