Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Amazon Prime includes:
Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
- Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
- Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
-24% $21.22$21.22
Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com
$12.00$12.00
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: GTPBooks
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
OK
Audible sample Sample
City of Refugees: The Story of Three Newcomers Who Breathed Life into a Dying American Town Hardcover – June 7, 2022
Purchase options and add-ons
"This is an American tale that everyone should read. . . . 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. 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. 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.
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). 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. Utica is not alone. Other Rust Belt cities—including Buffalo, Dayton, and Detroit—have also welcomed refugees, hoping to jump-start their economies and attract a younger population.
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.
- Print length264 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBeacon Press
- Publication dateJune 7, 2022
- Dimensions6.2 x 0.96 x 9.27 inches
- ISBN-100807024678
- ISBN-13978-0807024676
Customers who bought this item also bought
Editorial Reviews
Review
—Booklist
"Hartman draws an intimate and captivating portrait of the struggle to build new lives while holding on to old values. Readers will gain vital insight into the immigrant experience in America."
—Publishers Weekly
"Susan Hartman illuminates the humanity of these outsiders while demonstrating the crucial role immigrants play in the economy—and the soul—of the nation."
—Stuart Miller, Los Angeles Times
“With a keen eye for detail and a lot of heart, Hartman follows three refugees for eight years… Hartman crafts a nuanced narrative about each creating a new life in a new country while simultaneously holding onto memories of home and not losing their identity. The beauty of City of Refugees is that it tackles all the bad things that happen to these people while also reveling in their dreams and growth.”
—Gabino Iglesias, San Francisco Chronicle
“[A]n engaging, captivating book about the stories of three refugees and their families… Utica is unquestionably better off because of the thousands of refugees and their families that have resettled there, and as Hartman's book makes clear in their own words, so are they.”
—Daniel P. Horan, National Catholic Reporter
"A gripping, fast-moving immersion into the lives of three bright new lights in a once fading town, City of Refugees is a meticulous and timely work of journalism."
—Dina Nayeri, author of The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You
"This is an American tale that everyone should read—the story of three refugees who forged a new life in the Rust Belt. Hartman's journalistic dedication is nothing short of astounding. She spent eight years following her subjects, and it shows. The storytelling is so intimate and the characters feel so deeply real that you will know them like neighbors. Sadia, who is a teenage girl when the book begins, is like the heroine of a great young adult novel. You will root for her on every page, and by the end, you will not be able to wall off your heart from her hopes and dreams."
—Jake Halpern, author of Welcome to the New World
"Susan Hartman's City of Refugees is storytelling at its very best. Her detailed portrait of the ordinary lives of a few extraordinary people and their community gives us an utterly compelling glimpse into the heart and soul of the United States of America in the twenty-first century."
—Jenny McPhee, author and translator
"What a wonderful book! In this remarkably nuanced portrait of three refugees, Susan Hartman manages a skillful end run around the topic's usual politicized discourse. Instead, she concentrates on her subjects' current and past experiences, including religious persecutions, wars, physical danger, and their ambitions, confusions, joys, and fears."
—Lis Harris, author of In Jerusalem: Three Generations of an Israeli Family and a Palestinian Family
"City of Refugees is a tender, intimate, and important book—a carefully reported rebuttal to the xenophobic narratives that define so much of modern American politics and a gripping portrait of what three different refugees have offered the city of Utica through their labors of love."
—Sarah Stillman, staff writer, The New Yorker
"Susan Hartman has written a vital book about the refugee experience in America. With spare and direct prose, she captures the daily joys and heartaches of three refugee families. This is a story of the tenacity of family bonds and the underappreciated contributions of refugees to the vitality of American life. I loved every single page."
—Jen Percy, author of Demon Camp: The Strange and Terrible Saga of a Soldier's Return from War
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Beacon Press (June 7, 2022)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 264 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0807024678
- ISBN-13 : 978-0807024676
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.2 x 0.96 x 9.27 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #255,385 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #99 in U.S. Immigrant History
- #181 in Emigration & Immigration Studies (Books)
- #228 in Social Services & Welfare (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
I think the author did a fantastic job of weaving personal narrative with historical, social, and political context.
I would recommend this book to anyone with a personal tie to Utica, or anyone with a passion or interest in sociology, history, the refugee experience, or the human experience in general.