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America is at a crossroads. In the great experiment of democracy, a defining moment has arrived, a time of reckoning: What does it mean to be an American? Does the American Dream still exist? In a country created by immigrants, could our differences become a source of strength? From deep in the heartland, a view of American life through the eyes of our newest citizens may help us begin to answer these questions.In this collection, Syrian father Eyad Said and his young family must build a life together in the U.S. while contending with the horrors facing their people back home. Palestinian American Dhuha Tawil grapples with her decision whether or not to wear the hijab. Shalini Jasti tries to balance her love of the English language with her mother's desire to preserve her connection to their Indian culture and mother tongue. Vanessa "CueponiCihuatl" Espinoza tells of her first legal documents after crossing the Mexican-U.S. border as a child. In a moving letter to his parents, George Khal looks back on his life in Palestine, Egypt, and the U.S. through the lens of gratitude and grief. Hibbah Jarmakani tells of her family's struggle to create a new home in Iowa after leaving their generational home behind in Syria. After speaking truth to power as a journalist in Sudan, Salma Salama migrates to Cairo and then the United States, where she must start anew in her career, language, and community. These seven stories show us that this country is as complex as the people who live in it, and that every resident plays a role in determining the America of tomorrow.

Untold stories from the American heartland of living between two worlds At six years old, Antonia Rivera crossed the border from Mexico with nothing but the doll in her hands. Ajla Dizdarevi¿'s family brought traditions across an ocean after leaving a home torn apart by the Bosnian War. Sarah Elgatian's grandmother played cards and spoke of a country her Armenian-American grandchild had never known. Hieu Pham couldn't relate to all of her mother's Vietnamese traditions, but when she became a mother herself, everything changed. Rana Hewezi grappled with tragedy in her Egyptian family's past and the power of a name in determining her fate. Anthony Mielke couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to his birth story than he had been told. A member of the Meskwaki Nation, Dawson Davenport was born into a world that was not told in the history books.How do we make our way in a society that looks nothing like the one our families once knew? How do we find a sense of belonging in a past and a place we've never been, or in a world that feels as if it's changing faster than we are?These seven stories take us on a ride through the heart and the moral conscience as they explore how we find identity and make a future in an America that is still deciding on its own. "...In the quest of all people to find freedom, it is heartening that Antonia and others can find a home in Iowa, which has not forgotten its own immigrant story." -Art Cullen, Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and author of Storm Lake: A Chronicle of Change, Resilience, and Hope from a Heartland Newspaper