Journalist Daniel Connolly joins host Janeane Bernstein 2/27/17 at 9:15am pst to talk about his book, " The Book of Isaias - A Child of Hispanic Immigrants Seeks His Own America."

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“At a time when our views of immigrants, especially from Latin America, are colored by simplistic, divisive rhetoric, this is a heartfelt, but most importantly a true account—one person's story that makes us realize the universality of the immigrant experience.”

—Ian Johnson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting

THE BOOK OF ISAIAS: A Child of Hispanic Immigrants
Seeks His Own America

DANIEL CONNOLLY
The debate over immigration policy has reached a fever pitch. But what many politicians fail to acknowledge are the personal stories of immigrants and their children, the humanity behind immigration policy. Based on five-plus years of reporting, THE BOOK OF ISAIAS: A Child of Hispanic Immigrants Seeks His Own America (Published by St. Martin’s Press), by journalist Daniel Connolly, paints a “delicate, comprehensive, and empathetic portrait” of the lives of the children (one brilliant young man in particular) of unauthorized Mexican immigrants growing up in a society that hasn’t quite made room for them.

In a green town in the middle of America, 18-year-old student Isaias Ramos does all the right things to pad his college resume. He aces a national calculus exam, studies the viola for fun, and appears on local television as the captain of the quiz bowl team. But Isaias faces a dilemma: apply to Harvard (as his counselors think he should) or forgo college to paint houses alongside his unauthorized immigrant parents.

Connolly uses Isaias’s story to make a broader point: that the children of immigrants have great potential, that many obstacles threaten that potential, and that the nation should work to develop their potential for the good of all, especially considering the fact that one in four young people in America is the child of an immigrant.

DANIEL CONNOLLY has for more than a decade reported on Mexican immigration to the U.S. South for news organizations including The Associated Press in Little Rock and The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal. An award-winning journalist, he has received support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, the International Center for Journalists and the Fulbright program. He lives in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee.