Helen Plum Library

"Thirtysomething Flores and her mother, Paula, still live in the same Brooklyn apartment, but that may be the only thing they have in common. It's been nearly three years since they lost beloved husband and father Martín, who had always been the bridge between them. One day, cleaning beneath his urn, Flores discovers a note written in her mother's handwriting: Perdóname si te falle. Recuerda que siempre te quise. ("Forgive me if I failed you. Remember...

"Recounting her mother's migration from India and how she came to speak two languages--Malayalam and English--a young girl shows how the gift of multilingualism can transport people across borders and around the world"--Provided by publisher

"Leal came to the U.S. penniless as a teenager, speaking almost no English; he literally slept in the boiler room of a Wisconsin cheese factory for months before he was caught. Through hard work, grit, and ingenuity Leal would go on to launch his own business. He is widely credited with introducing Mexican cheeses to the U.S. market, and grew his company to a multi-million-dollar success story. Yet, like many successful entrepreneurs, Leal's great...

From acclaimed Abraham Lincoln historian Harold Holzer, a groundbreaking account of Lincoln's grappling with the politics of immigration against the backdrop of the Civil War. In the three decades before the Civil War, some ten million foreign-born people settled in the United States, forever altering the nation's demographics, culture, and--perhaps most significantly--voting patterns. America's newest residents fueled the national economy, but they...

"Welcome to the land of opportunity₄ Two undocumented immigrants take on a simple job. They have to dig a hole somewhere in no man's land. When they discover that their two clients turn out to be psychopathic criminals, the immigrants must survive the upcoming night. A much more difficult job than expected

"The saga of the German-Jewish immigrants--with now familiar names like Goldman and Sachs, Kuhn and Loeb, Lehman and Seligman--who built the modern American finance system and shaped the world economy, from the New York Times bestselling author of Sons of Wichita. Joseph Seligman arrived in the United States in 1837, with the equivalent of $100 sewn into the lining of his pants. Then came Henry and Emanuel Lehman, who would open a general store in...

"Inspired by family lore, a young writer embarks on an epic quest through the Argentine Andes in search of a heritage spanning hemispheres and centuries, from the Jewish Levant to turn-of-the-century trade routes in South America. One Thanksgiving afternoon at his grandparents' house, Jordan Salama discovers a large binder stuffed with yellowing papers and old photographs--a five-hundred-year wandering history of his Arab-Jewish family, from Moorish...

"Haunted by the death of her sister, Finola Shanahan has resolved that she's not worthy of a family of her own and commits to spending her days caring for immigrants in the slums. Unwilling to consider marriage, Finola has perfected the ability to sabotage the relationships her parents arrange for her. At wit's end, her father calls upon the local Irish matchmaker, who pairs her with successful wagonmaker Riley Rafferty. After her usual tricks fail,...

"From former White House aide to President Obama and Harvard graduate, Alejandra Campoverdi, comes a riveting and unflinching memoir on navigating social mobility as a first gen Latina, offering a broad examination of the unacknowledged emotional tolls of being a trailblazer. To be a First and Only in America is a delicate balancing act of surviving where you come from while acting like you belong where you're going. Alejandra Campoverdi has been...

"When Carlos was nineteen, his mother decided to leave her life in El Salvador. Refusing to let her go without him, Carlos joined the journey north. Together they experienced the risks countless people faces as they migrate"--