Powerful and Personal Essays on the Immigrant Experience Reflect the Struggle, Hope, and Ambition That Make America Great in Journeys: An American Story

NEW YORK, June 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ Journeys: An American Story features a collection of first-person reflections of the American immigrant experience that are as diverse as the United States of America. Whether it was a few months, years, decades, or centuries ago, every family has a story of how they arrived in America.  This collection of 72 essays, compiled by Andrew Tisch and Mary Skafidas, celebrates the vastness and variety of immigration stories in America and how the dreamers, lovers, refugees, and trailblazers portrayed came to call America "home."

In 2016, Andrew Tisch, co-chairman of the board and chairman of the executive committee of Loews Corporation, was asked to speak at a swearing-in ceremony for 100 new immigrants at the New-York Historical Society. Inspired to research his own family's odyssey to the United States his great-grandfather emigrated in 1904 it struck him that almost everyone has an American origins story to share.

He enlisted his frequent collaborator Mary Skafidas, head of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications for Loews Corporation, whose parents immigrated to America in 1970.  Together, they began to solicit stories from friends, associates, and others, seeking to capture the quintessential idea of the American dream.

"Journeys is intended to stand as a reminder of America's distinctive culture and history and how it has been shaped by the travels and travails of people who came here from all over the world," said Mr. Tisch.

"As we collected these stories, we realized how immigrants have defined the true scope of American greatness," said Ms. Skafidas.

Journeys includes the compelling and heartrending tales of extraordinary and everyday Americans including:

• The girl who escaped persecution to become the first Vietnamese American woman ever elected to the U.S. Congress;
• A young boy who fled violence in Budapest to become one of the most celebrated American football players;
• A governor's grandfather who dug ditches and cleaned sewers, laying the groundwork for a budding nation; and
• A future cabinet secretary who crossed the ocean at age eleven on a cargo ship.

Contributors include Alan Alda, Tony Bennett, Michael Bloomberg, Cory Booker, Barbara Boxer, Elaine Chao, Andrew Cuomo, Nancy Pelosi, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Marlo Thomas, and many more.

Journeys: An American Story is being published by leading independent trade publisher  RosettaBooks and will be distributed in hardcover through Creative Management Partners and Simon & Schuster on July 3. The hardcover will be available wherever books are sold at $27.99 and the eBook edition will be available exclusively from Amazon Kindle at $9.99.

After receiving advance copies, Warren Buffett called Journeys inspiring, saying "The stories that Andrew and Mary share illustrate the positive and powerful impact that immigration has had in weaving the fabric of America." Abby Joseph Cohen called it "a timely reminder of the essential role of immigrants in our national success story, including science, the arts, and economic well-being."

All profits from the book will be donated to the New-York Historical Society and the Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Foundation.

Visit www.journeysanamericanstory.com to learn more and to share your own Journeys story.

To post a comment, you must register and login.