A gripping portrait of refugees who forged a new Life in the Rust Belt, the deep roots they\'ve formed in their community, and their role in shaping its culture and prosperity.
City of Refugees is a complex and poignant Story of a small City but also of America--a country whose promise of safe harbor and opportunity is knotty and incomplete, but undeniably alive..
Other Rust Belt cities--including Buffalo, Dayton, and Detroit--have also welcomed refugees, hoping to jump-start their economies and attract a younger population.
Utica is not alone.
The 3 Newcomers are part of an extraordinary migration over the past 4 decades; thousands fleeing war and persecution have transformed Utica, opening small businesses, fixing up abandoned houses, and adding a spark of vitality to forlorn City streets.
Along the way, Hartman illuminates the humanity of these outsiders while demonstrating the crucial role immigrants play in the economy--and the soul--of the nation ( Los Angeles Times ).
Sadia, a Somali Bantu teenager , rebels against her mother
Ali, an Iraqi interpreter , creates a home with an American woman but is haunted by war; and Mersiha, a Bosnian baker , gambles everything to open a café.
In this tender, intimate, and important book--a carefully reported rebuttal to the xenophobic narratives that define so much of modern American politics (Sarah Stillman, staff writer, The New Yorker ), journalist Susan Hartman follows 3 refugees over 8 years and tells the Story of how they built new lives in the old manufacturing Town of Utica, New York .
The storytelling is so intimate and the characters feel so deeply real that you will know them like neighbors.--Jake Halpern, author of Welcome to the New World War, persecution, natural disasters, and climate change continue to drive millions around the world from their homes. . . .
This is an American tale that everyone should read.
A gripping portrait of refugees who forged a new Life in the Rust Belt, the deep roots they\'ve formed in their community, and their role in shaping its culture and prosperity
