Customer Reviews

From Every End of This Earth: 13 Families and the New Lives They Made in America

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Steven V Roberts writes a poignant book of thirteen individuals/families who answer the questions of why they chose to immigrant and what is it like to be an immigrant in America today. As he says in the introduction "this book is about the doers, the risk-takers, the makers of things...."

I became interested in refugees while on a trip to Africa where I happened to read Angelina Jolie's: Notes from My Travels and Bill Bryson's African Diary. They got me thinking about what it must be like to totally displace yourself from everything you know and move to a strange country. Jolie speaks of her visits to refugee camps on behalf of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees and Bryson with his usual humor talks about his experiences in Africa. So From Every End of This Earth: 13 Families and the New Lives They Made in America intrigued me with its variety and global view point.

The author's grandparents were all immigrants and as a child he would listen to the stories they would tell about their country of birth. His interest in ethnicity followed him throughout his career and this effort to quote the author "is a book about stories. It is not about policies or politics."

In the section on "Survivors" you'll meet people who lived in the countries of Viet Nam, Rwanda, and Sierra Leon where horrendous happenings claimed their families from dismemberment to rape to murder. In desperation they sought to immigrant to some place safe. You'll find inspiring stories of international entrepreneurs from China and India. You'll see drive and ambition to succeed in the section on Business Owners from Greece, El Salvador, Ukraine, Pakistan and Mexico. And you'll meet brave, determined women in the last section on women from Afghanistan, Greece, Israel and Burma.

Reading the book will give you a better understanding of choices immigrants make. For instance many thought they would go back to their homeland at some point, but ended up staying in the United States and marrying, having children. They send money back to their families and even the smallest amount by U.S. standards can make the difference in their homeland of starving or not starving.

Many feel immigrants drain the system of monies that would otherwise go to citizens. The book points out that immigrants have always heavily contributed to the American economy. A snapshot view of some of the contributions can been seen in the section on entrepreneurs. The chapters on Women show very determined individuals who want to provide for their families and contribute to their home. It will give you perspectives to think about that you may have not come across.

The thirteen stories are personal and show a personal journey that is also global in nature. As the author states immigration is "still one of the most challenging journeys any human being ever makes."

Roberts, a journalist by trade and talented story teller by passion, paints the lives of 13 families by retelling their stories in a way that captures the essence of their journeys to the United States as well as their journeys to becoming Americans. Roberts eloquently breaks down many of the myths surrounding immigrants by sharing stories of men, women and children who had to leave so much behind by emigrating. The book is divided into sections, The Survivors, The International Entrepreneurs, The Business Owners, The Professionals, and The Women. The characters and their stories give many fresh perspectives on the issue of immigration.

I read this for my Sociology class in college and had to write a book report on it. The whole book has to do with immigration and different stories shared that people pursued the American Dream. It's also divided into sections, The Survivors, The International Entrepreneurs, The Business Owners, The Professionals, and The Women. It's a good insight on the immigration process that is currently going on through illegal border crossing to legal process of the immigration in the United States.

The author Steven Roberts interviewed these people and found very insightful information about each of these people. I loved each "character" and it made me feel proud to live in the country that this book talks about.

I was very happy with my purchase of the book "From Every End of This Earth. Although it was considered a used book it came in perfect condition. It was an overstock item....never even read. The service was prompt and hassel-free.

The variety of backgrounds and experiences of the 13 families added to my appreciation of my grandparents.

My wife teaches English to speakers of other langusges, she found it very useful in adding to her cultural data base of understanging people of other cultures and their experiance fitting in.

What I found of interest was that these stories could be any of us. All of our families came from somewhere else and went through some kind of hardships either where they cam from or once they got in this country And the vast majority succeeded or improved their position and life style.

Paul

Considering the NY Times and NPR indoctrination of Roberts I was a bit surprised there was not more preaching on the immigration issue. Every country would welcome the hardworking & ethical people described in this book. But these are isolated examples. There is little discussion of illegals & in maintaining the rampant political correctness of the left, there would be no criticism of illegal immigration in any event. The 13 examples are wonderful but no contrast is made to the 13 illegals born in the US about every 5 seconds nor the tremendous cost to the country. Hospitals in Southern Cal are closing one after the other as pro bono treatment in emergency rooms has been bankrupting them. While it is fine to say we all are immigrants the reality is that we cannot pay for the welfare of the entire world. It is clear at this point the Democratic platform & Obama's only hope of reelection is to get about 10,000,000 votes on his side pronto. Therefore, "Let's embrace all our new brethren, here is your welfare check & DON'T FORGET TO VOTE FOR ME!"

Steve is doing the Public radio book tour now. Like my title says...if you liked 'EJ' youll like this politically correct tome by New York Times bestselling author Steven V. Roberts.

Steve Roberts who is married to the dreaded Cokie Roberts of Public radio fame [so the NPR airwaves are fair game for this best selling author] is a professor at GWU and herein he offers 13 chapters of political correctness in his new book.

Just yesterday I was with a visitor from the UK who said `Id like to move to the USA but I cant! THERE ARE 6 NATIONS BARRED FROM THE GREENCARD LOTTERY AND UK IS ONE OF THEM!'

!I THINK THE QUOTE IN ANOTHER BOOK IS THE MOST TELLING. THAT QUOTE IS:

`AMERICA DOESN'T EXIST'

or something like that. The quote is attributed to Cokie Roberts. She of NPR fame is quoted in one of Pat Buchanan's books.