Synopses & Reviews
Emmy Award-winning journalist and anchor of NPR's Latino USA,
Maria Hinojosa, tells the story of immigration in America through her
family's experiences and decades of reporting, painting an unflinching
portrait of a country in crisis.
Maria Hinojosa is an award-winning journalist who has
collaborated with the most respected networks and is known for bringing
humanity to her reporting. In this beautifully-rendered memoir, she
relates the history of US immigration policy that has brought us to
where we are today, as she shares her deeply personal story. For thirty
years, Maria Hinojosa has reported on stories and communities in America
that often go ignored by the mainstream media. Bestselling author Julia
Alvarez has called her "one of the most important, respected, and
beloved cultural leaders in the Latinx community."
In
Once I Was You, Maria shares her intimate experience growing up
Mexican American on the south side of Chicago and documenting the
existential wasteland of immigration detention camps for news outlets
that often challenged her work. In these pages, she offers a personal
and eye-opening account of how the rhetoric around immigration has not
only long informed American attitudes toward outsiders, but also enabled
willful negligence and profiteering at the expense of our country's
most vulnerable populations — charging us with the broken system we have
today.
This honest and heartrending memoir paints a vivid portrait of
how we got here and what it means to be a survivor, a feminist, a
citizen, and a journalist who owns her voice while striving for the
truth.
Once I Was You is an urgent call to fellow Americans to open their eyes to the immigration crisis and understand that it affects us all.
Also available in Spanish as
Una vez fui t
ú.
Review
"Once I Was You is many books in one, a searingly honest memoir by
one of this country's most accomplished women, an inside view of the
media, and a fact-filled indictment of our treatment of immigrants over
time. Because Maria Hinojosa identifies with each one, anyone striving
to understand and improve this country should read her story of what's
wrong and how to change it." Gloria Steinem, author of My Life on the
Road, Booklist (Starred Review)
Review
"A powerful memoir that doubles as an essential immigration primer." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
Review
"Written in Latina journalist Maria Hinojosa's honest, passionate voice,
Once I Was You is, quite simply, beautiful." BookPage (Starred Review)
Review
"Maria's perspective is powerful and vital. Years ago, when In the Heights
was just starting off-Broadway, Maria got the word out to our community
to support this new musical about our neighborhoods. She has been a
champion of our triumphs, a critic of our detractors, and a driving
force to right the wrongs our society faces. When Maria speaks, I'm
ready to listen and learn." Lin-Manuel Miranda
Synopsis
"Anyone striving to understand and improve this country should read her story." --Gloria Steinem, author of My Life on the Road The Emmy Award-winning journalist and anchor of NPR's Latino USA tells the story of immigration in America through her family's experiences and decades of reporting, painting an unflinching portrait of a country in crisis in this memoir that is "quite simply beautiful, written in Maria Hinojosa's honest, passionate voice" (BookPage).
Maria Hinojosa is an award-winning journalist who, for nearly thirty years, has reported on stories and communities in America that often go ignored by the mainstream media--from tales of hope in the South Bronx to the unseen victims of the War on Terror and the first detention camps in the US. Bestselling author Julia lvarez has called her "one of the most important, respected, and beloved cultural leaders in the Latinx community."
In Once I Was You, Maria shares her intimate experience growing up Mexican American on the South Side of Chicago. She offers a personal and illuminating account of how the rhetoric around immigration has not only long informed American attitudes toward outsiders, but also sanctioned willful negligence and profiteering at the expense of our country's most vulnerable populations--charging us with the broken system we have today.
An urgent call to fellow Americans to open their eyes to the immigration crisis and understand that it affects us all, this honest and heartrending memoir paints a vivid portrait of how we got here and what it means to be a survivor, a feminist, a citizen, and a journalist who owns her voice while striving for the truth.
Also available in Spanish as Una vez fui t .
About the Author
Maria Hinojosa's nearly
thirty-year career as a journalist includes reporting for PBS, CBS,
WGBH, WNBC, CNN, NPR, and anchoring and executive producing the Peabody
Award-winning show
Latino USA, distributed by NPR. She is a frequent guest on MSNBC,
and has won several awards, including four Emmys, the Studs Terkel
Community Media Award, two Robert F. Kennedy Awards, and the Edward R.
Murrow Award from the Overseas Press Club. In 2010, she founded Futuro
Media, an independent nonprofit organization with the mission of
producing multimedia content from a POC perspective. Through the breadth
of her work and as the founding coanchor of the political podcast
In the Thick, Hinojosa has informed millions about the changing
cultural and political landscape in America and abroad. She lives with
her family in Harlem in New York City.