U.S.-born Mexicans in New York City have achieved one of the biggest one-generation jumps in mobility in American immigration history. In 2020, 42-percent of U.S.-born Mexican men and 49-percent of U.S.-born Mexican women in New York City had graduated from college. This high level of educational attainment is dramatically higher than their U.S.- and foreign-born counterparts in other places. How did U.S.-born Mexicans in New York City achieve such remarkable mobility? In Dreams Achieved and Denied, sociologist Robert Courtney Smith examines the laws, policies, and individual and family practices that promoted–and inhibited–their social mobility. For over twenty years, Smith followed nearly one hundred children of Mexican immigrants in New York City to learn what determined their ability to move up the social ladder. Smith finds that legal status was fundamental in shaping opportunities for mobility. Having or gaining legal status enabled individual and family efforts for mobility to be rewarded and by allowing efficacious use of New York City and New York State policies and practices that support mobility. Lacking legal status, however, blocked mobility, even for those individuals and families engaging in the same strategies, limiting the benefit derived from those mobility-promoting city and state policies. The young people that Smith followed employed a number of strategies to pursue advancement. Smith finds that having strong mentors, picking better high schools, and the desire to keep the immigrant family bargain–the expectation that children of immigrants will redeem their parents’ sacrifice by doing well in school, helping their parents and younger siblings, and becoming ethical, well-educated people–all led to better adult lives and outcomes. The ability to successfully utilize these strategies was aided by New York City and State policies that are immigrant-inclusive and mobility promoting, including New York State laws that offers undocumented New Yorkers in-state tuition at public universities, allows them to get standard driver’s licenses, and access state health insurance programs, as well as New York City’s school choice system, which allows for students to attend better schools outside of their designated school catchment zone. Dreams Achieved and Denied is a fascinating exploration of the historic upward mobility of Mexicans in New York City, which counters the dominant story research and public discourse tell about Mexican mobility in the United States.

"In Dreams Achieved and Denied, Robert Courtney Smith follows Mexican immigrant children in New York City over time, collecting and analyzing extensive data on them and their families. Smith finds that U.S.-born Mexicans in New York City have experienced strong and even exceptional single generation mobility, made more impressive by the relatively low income and educational levels of their immigrant parents. Study participants and their families who all had legal status or were born in the United States became upwardly mobile through specific family and individual strategies, whose efficacy was increased by specific policies, practices, and conditions in New York City and New York State, which treat immigrants and their families as fellow New Yorkers-as "us," not "them." Smith also finds that the lives and mobility of "long-term undocumented Americans"- those who were brought to the United States as children but have been unable to legalize their status by adulthood-are blocked by their lack of legal status, even when engaging in the same strategies and practices as their upwardly mobile, U.S. citizen peers. Moreover, the help their U.S.-born peers received from many mobility-promoting New York City and New York State policies and practices was blocked by their lack of legal status. These divergent trajectories underline the reality that structural inclusion or exclusion of immigrants and their children-having or lacking legal status, respectively-has become an enduring feature of American life that affects intergenerational mobility and well-being"--

-'A Dream Denied' shows how the narrative of American Dream shapes the offending trajectories of twenty-three young Latino and African American men in Boston and Chicago. Believing in the American Dream helps the teenagers to cope with the pains of incarceration. However, without the ability to experience themselves as creative actors, reproducing the rhetoric of American meritocracy leaves the teenagers unprepared to negotiate the complex and frustrating process of desistance and reentry.

Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) shares the story of his father's journey from poverty to middle-class prosperity, but says the bargain that helped his father and other workers achieve the American Dream is now broken. Sen. Booker reflects on the trends and practices contributing to stagnant wages in the United States, including a corporate culture that favors shareholder payouts over investments in workers; barriers to worker mobility, like non-compete clauses; and the “fissuring” of the workforce, as companies today are more likely to contract out labor to low-cost vendors rather than employ directly. Senator Booker calls for policies that will address these and related challenges, expand opportunity for all Americans, and restore the bargain for all who seek it.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • NAMED ONE OF TIME’S TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE • PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST • ONE OF OPRAH’S “BOOKS THAT HELP ME THROUGH” • NOW AN HBO ORIGINAL SPECIAL EVENT Hailed by Toni Morrison as “required reading,” a bold and personal literary exploration of America’s racial history by “the most important essayist in a generation and a writer who changed the national political conversation about race” (Rolling Stone) NAMED ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE DECADE BY CNN • NAMED ONE OF PASTE’S BEST MEMOIRS OF THE DECADE • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • O: The Oprah Magazine • The Washington Post • People • Entertainment Weekly • Vogue • Los Angeles Times • San Francisco Chronicle • Chicago Tribune • New York • Newsday • Library Journal • Publishers Weekly In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden? Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.

Winner of a 2017 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, this moving manifesto “empowers women to access a fearlessness that will enable community progress” (Essence). Through one incredible woman’s journey from a small Zimbabwe village to becoming one of the world’s most recognizable voices in women’s empowerment and education, this book “can help any woman achieve her full potential” (Kirkus Reviews). Before Tererai Trent landed on Oprah’s stage as her “favorite guest of all time,” she was a woman with a forgotten dream. As a young girl in a cattle-herding village in Zimbabwe, she dreamed of receiving an education but instead was married young and by eighteen, without a high school graduation, she was already a mother of three. Tererai encountered a visiting American woman who assured her that anything was possible, reawakening her sacred dream. Tererai planted her dreams deep in the earth and prayed they would grow. They did, and now not only has she earned her PhD but she has also built schools for girls in Zimbabwe, with funding from Oprah. The Awakened Woman: A Guide for Remembering & Igniting Your Sacred Dreams is her accessible, intimate, and evocative guide that teaches nine essential lessons to encourage all women to reexamine their dreams and uncover the power hidden within them—power that can recreate our world for the better. Tererai points out that there is a massive, untapped, global resource in women who have, for one reason or another, set aside their wisdom, their skills, and their dreams in order to take care of the personal business of their lives. Not only is this a type of invisible suffering experienced by countless women, this rich resource is a secret weapon for improving our world. Women have the capacity to inspire, to create, to transform—and Tererai’s call to action “shines as a beacon of hope to women everywhere” (Danica McKellar, actress and New York Times bestselling author).

The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.

In this groundbreaking book about how women perceive, are prepared for, and cope with ambition and achievement, psychiatrist Anna Fels examines ambition at the deepest psychological level. Cutting to the core of what ambition can provide—the essential elements of a fulfilling life—Fels describes why, for women but not for men, ambition still remains fraught with often painful conflict. Fels draws on case studies, research, interviews, and autobiographies of accomplished and celebrated women past and present—writers, artists, architects, politicians, actors—to explore the ways in which women are brought up to avoid recognition and visibility in favor of traditional feminine values and why they often choose to nurture and defer to rather than compete with men. She poses invaluable questions: What is the nature of ambition and how important is it in a woman’s life? What are the forces that promote or impede its development? To what extent does ambition go against a woman’s very nature? And she challenges currently held theories about the state of mind and the needs of men. Incisive and highly readable, Necessary Dreams is a unique exploration of the options and obstacles women face in the pursuit of their goals. It is a book that every woman will want—and need—to read.

An astute diagnosis of one of the biggest problems in business Denial is the unconscious determination that a certain reality is too terrible to contemplate, so therefore it cannot be true. We see it everywhere, from the alcoholic who swears he's just a social drinker to the president who declares "mission accomplished" when it isn't. In the business world, countless companies get stuck in denial while their challenges escalate into crises. Harvard Business School professor Richard S. Tedlow tackles two essential questions: Why do sane, smart leaders often refuse to accept the facts that threaten their companies and careers? And how do we find the courage to resist denial when facing new trends, changing markets, and tough new competitors? Tedlow looks at numerous examples of organiza­tions crippled by denial, including Ford in the era of the Model T and Coca-Cola with its abortive attempt to change its formula. He also explores other companies, such as Intel, Johnson & Johnson, and DuPont, that avoided catastrophe by dealing with harsh realities head-on. Tedlow identifies the leadership skills that are essential to spotting the early signs of denial and taking the actions required to overcome it.

Learn How You Too Can Live the American Dream - You Too Can Live The Dream by Dixion RwakasyaguriIs the American Dream still achievable today? For those of you striving to realize your true potential and live your life to the fullest, this Dream can seem elusive. Full of practical instruction and actionable information, this latest book, You Too Can Live The Dream: 10 Steps to Achieving the American Dream presents you with a template you can use to attain your objective. Written in an inspirational manner by an immigrant from a small village who traveled to and achieved success in America, this book will demonstrate that the American Dream can be achieved by anyone.After reading this book, you will discover how to: ¿ Integrate into a New Culture While Maintaining Your Roots. ¿ Avoid Pitfalls and Overcome Challenges. ¿ Identify Your Path and Secure the Right Job. ¿ Reap Rewards and Give Back. ¿ Live The American Dream. ¿ Achieve Happiness, and so much more.A compelling, inspirational account of perseverance, beauty of faith, and persistence of the human spirit.Pick up this book today and get under way on your journey to achieving the American Dream.