Metropolitan Library System

"What if you dreamed of a new life, and it came to you? What if that new life led you to a new country, where no one spoke your language, where you felt alone and ignored? What if you had to make that new place your home? What if you found that home in a world of books? And what if it all were true?"--Jacket.

Celebrate the genius, diversity, and grit of immigrants and refugees in this boldly illustrated guide to 36 American trailblazers. The men and women in this book represent nations from Somalia to Germany, from Syria to China, from Mexico to Sweden, and more. They are people like Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, international singing sensation Celia Cruz, star basketball player Dikembe Mutombo, world-renowned physicist Albert Einstein, and influential...

This revealing biography of a pioneering photojournalist and social reformer Jacob Riis shows how he brought to light one of the worst social justice issues plaguing New York City in the late 1800s-the tenement housing crisis-using newly invented flash photography. Jacob Riis was familiar with poverty. He did his best to combat it in his hometown of Ribe, Denmark, and he experienced it when he immigrated to the United States in 1870. Jobs for immigrants...