My (Underground) American Dream
My True Story as an Undocumented Immigrant Who Became a Wall Street Executive
by Julissa Arce
ebook
1 of 1 copy available
What does an undocumented immigrant look like? What kind of family must she come from? How could she get into this country? What is the true price she must pay to remain in the United States?
JULISSA ARCE knows firsthand that the most common, preconceived answers to those questions are sometimes far too simple-and often just plain wrong.
On the surface, Arce's story reads like a how-to manual for achieving the American dream: growing up in an apartment on the outskirts of San Antonio, she worked tirelessly, achieved academic excellence, and landed a coveted job on Wall Street, complete with a six-figure salary. The level of professional and financial success that she achieved was the very definition of the American dream. But in this brave new memoir, Arce digs deep to reveal the physical, financial, and emotional costs of the stunning secret that she, like many other high-achieving, successful individuals in the United States, had been forced to keep not only from her bosses, but even from her closest friends.
From the time she was brought to this country by her hardworking parents as a child, Arce-the scholarship winner, the honors college graduate, the young woman who climbed the ladder to become a vice president at Goldman Sachs-had secretly lived as an undocumented immigrant. In this surprising, at times heart-wrenching, but always inspirational personal story of struggle, grief, and ultimate redemption, Arce takes readers deep into the little-understood world of a generation of undocumented immigrants in the United States today- people who live next door, sit in your classrooms, work in the same office, and may very well be your boss. By opening up about the story of her successes, her heartbreaks, and her long-fought journey to emerge from the shadows and become an American citizen, Arce shows us the true cost of achieving the American dream-from the perspective of a woman who had to scale unseen and unimaginable walls to get there.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
September 13, 2016 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
- ISBN: 9781478918660
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781455540259
- File size: 3054 KB
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781455540259
- File size: 4404 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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September 1, 2016
Arce's parents lived and worked primarily in San Antonio, Texas, while their children and extended family remained in their hometown of Taxco, Mexico. Arce was a bright, outgoing child with plenty of confidence when, at age 11, she tried to win the heart of a cute boy with an old Playboy magazine. Soon after, she used a tourist instead of a student visa to enter the States and rejoin her parents, thus beginning her precarious existence as an undocumented immigrant. Arce managed to become a vice president at Goldman Sachs, a rare Latina executive. Now, by sharing the struggles she's faced, Arce provides readers with a relatable story that distills the overwhelming and complex social and political issues currently swirling around immigration. Written in an engaging, easy-to-read style and with impressive honesty regarding such difficult-to-reveal secrets as her father's alcoholism and how exactly she managed to live illegally in the U.S., Arce's memoir offers an invaluably personal perspective that will spark much-needed conversations on a variety of urgent and volatile topics.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)
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