Conditional Citizens
By
Laila Lalami
Read by
Laila Lalami
Release:
09/22/2020
Runtime:
5h 48m
Quantity:
“Sharp, bracingly clear essays."
Entertainment Weekly
A Booklist Pick of Fall's Most Anticipated Audiobooks
A BookPage Best Book of the Year
An Electric Literature Pick of 2020
A New York Times Book Review pick of Best Books Now in Paperback
A Time Magazine Best Book of the Year
A Los Angeles Times Best Book of 2020
An NPR Best Book of the Year
Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction
A New York Times Editors' Choice • Best Book of the Year: Time, NPR, Bookpage, L.A. Times
What does it mean to be American? In this starkly illuminating and impassioned book, Pulitzer Prize–finalist Laila Lalami recounts her unlikely journey from Moroccan immigrant to U.S. citizen, using it as a starting point for her exploration of American rights, liberties, and protections.
"Sharp, bracingly clear essays."—Entertainment Weekly
Tapping into history, politics, and literature, she elucidates how accidents of birth—such as national origin, race, and gender—that once determined the boundaries of Americanness still cast their shadows today.
Lalami poignantly illustrates how white supremacy survives through adaptation and legislation, with the result that a caste system is maintained that keeps the modern equivalent of white male landowners at the top of the social hierarchy. Conditional citizens, she argues, are all the people with whom America embraces with one arm and pushes away with the other.
Brilliantly argued and deeply personal, Conditional Citizens weaves together Lalami’s own experiences with explorations of the place of nonwhites in the broader American culture.
What does it mean to be American? In this starkly illuminating and impassioned book, Pulitzer Prize–finalist Laila Lalami recounts her unlikely journey from Moroccan immigrant to U.S. citizen, using it as a starting point for her exploration of American rights, liberties, and protections.
"Sharp, bracingly clear essays."—Entertainment Weekly
Tapping into history, politics, and literature, she elucidates how accidents of birth—such as national origin, race, and gender—that once determined the boundaries of Americanness still cast their shadows today.
Lalami poignantly illustrates how white supremacy survives through adaptation and legislation, with the result that a caste system is maintained that keeps the modern equivalent of white male landowners at the top of the social hierarchy. Conditional citizens, she argues, are all the people with whom America embraces with one arm and pushes away with the other.
Brilliantly argued and deeply personal, Conditional Citizens weaves together Lalami’s own experiences with explorations of the place of nonwhites in the broader American culture.
Release:
2020-09-22
Runtime:
5h 48m
Format:
audio
Weight:
0.0 lb
Language:
English
ISBN:
9780593170335
Praise