Jason DeParle, an Emerson Fellow at New America, is a reporter for The New York Times and has written extensively about poverty and immigration. His book American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids, and a Nation's Drive to End Welfare was a New York Times Notable Book and won the Helen Bernstein Award from the New York Public Library. He is a recipient of the George Polk Award and is a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
"This is the best book on immigration I've read. Three decades ago,
Jason DeParle moved into the Manila slums with the family. He
chronicles their immigration story but through it tells the larger
tale of what it all means. His empathy, intelligence and good
writing shine through every page."
—Fareed Zakaria
"A sweeping, deeply reported tale of international migration that
hopscotches from the Philippines through the Middle East, Europe
and eventually the United States . . . DeParle’s understanding
of migration is refreshingly cleareyed and nuanced."
—The New York Times
"[A] riveting multigenerational tale of one Filipino family
dispersing across the globe, from Manila to Abu Dhabi to Galveston,
Tex., and so many places in between...DeParle’s examination of how
the two daughters adapt to U.S. elementary schools, seeking to
become more all-American than the Americans, even as their parents
find solace in Texas’s Filipino immigrant networks, is a minor
classic of the assimilation experience....The book is packed with
insights."
—The Washington Post
“This is epic reporting, nonfiction on a whole other
level. One of the nation’s most committed immersive
journalists, Jason DeParle spent thirty years with a single family
whose lives were defined by immigration, traveling to several
countries and seeing children grow up and have children of their
own. No matter your politics or home country, A Good
Provider Is One Who Leaves will change how you think about the
movement of people between poor and rich countries. Intimate
narratives entwine with sweeping, global accounts to produce one of
the best books on immigration written in a generation.”
—Matthew Desmond, author of Evicted
“An intelligent, compassionate analysis of the economic, political,
and cultural ramifications of global migration.”
—The Christian Science Monitor
"A remarkable book . . . DeParle offers us a brisk history of
immigration and immigration policy and wise reflections on
contemporary migration."
—The Boston Globe
“This years-in-the-making, panoramic story follows the Portagana
family from the slums of Manila across four continents. A humane
epic of real people in search of better lives.”
—The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Remarkable...[A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves] will leave
you better understanding how the world works today and where we’re
likely headed."
—Washington Monthly
"DeParle humanizes the politics of migration and the powerful
forces of assimilation...immigration may be a hot button issue
today, but in his profoundly wise, insightful, and eloquent book,
DeParle goes behind sloganeering and conveys the vast and tangled
obstacle course navigated by those who dream of lifting their
families out of poverty."
—The National Book Review
"[An] ambitious and successful book . . . DeParle has a frank,
amiable and plain-spoken virtuosity as a writer."
—Minneapolis Star Tribune
"An admirably sober and sympathetic treatment of a topic that right
now evokes the worst impulses in many Americans…. What makes
DeParle’s book stand out is its focus on women immigrants….he has
leveraged his unusually close-up access to trace a fascinating
narrative of female empowerment against the merciless machine of
globalization."
—Texas Monthly
“DeParle delivers a remarkably creative, enlightening, and
empathetic book about international migration’s personal and public
impact…[a] well-informed analysis, of immigration’s history,
benefits, and downsides, demonstrating his mastery of the
subject.”
—Library Journal (starred review)
“[A] captivating story….DeParle excels in both intimate details and
sweeping scale…This well-crafted story personalizes the questions
and trends surrounding global migration in moving and
thought-provoking fashion.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A remarkably intimate look at migration’s impact on both a single
family and the global community.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“Jason DeParle has captured the power and peril of
immigration—through the story of one family, scattered across the
planet, working in hospitals, cruise ships and hotel bathrooms near
you. A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves is an exceptional
accomplishment: sweeping, vivid and complicated in all the right
ways. Just when we are about to lose hope, there is a moment of
beauty or humor or grace that saves us from despair.”
—Amanda Ripley, author of The Smartest Kids in the World
“A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves sets a new standard in the
literature of migration—heart-melting in the intimacy of the
Portagana family story across generations and continents and at the
same time profound in its connection of that story to the broader
phenomenon. Eloquence on every page.”
—Tom Gjelten, NPR Correspondent and author of A Nation of
Nations
"It's hard to imagine a book better timed; after decades of work,
Jason DeParle delivers this masterpiece of reporting and insight at
precisely the moment when America is making the most basic
decisions about immigration. His story-telling is so vivid,
granular and alive that, once you've read it, immigration can never
be a bumper-sticker controversy again. An American classic."
—Bill McKibben, author of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to
Play Itself Out?
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