American Born: An Immigrant's Story, a Daughter's Memoir

In her memoir, "The American Born," Rachel M. Brownstein explores the life of her resilient and courageous immigrant mother, Reisel Thaler, who arrived in New York in 1924 with an American passport. Reisel, born in 1905 in Galicia, was taken back to Poland by her father before turning two. Brownstein writes about her mother during the Trump years, dwelling on the tales she told about her life and the questions they raised about nationalism, immigration, and storytelling. The book highlights Reisel's journey as she becomes Grandma Rose, always watching and judging, singing, baking, and bustling. It reminds readers to laugh despite tragedy, find courage, and be their most authentic selves.

Format: Hardback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 28 June 2023
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press

An incisive memoir of Rachel M. Brownstein's seemingly quintessential Jewish mother, a resilient and courageous immigrant in New York. When she arrived alone in New York in 1924, eighteen-year-old Reisel Thaler resembled the other Yiddish-speaking immigrants from Eastern Europe who accompanied her. Yet she already had an American passport tucked in her scant luggage. Reisel had drawn her first breath on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1905, then was taken back to Galicia (in what is now Poland) by her father before she turned two. She was, as she would boast to the end of her days, "American born."

The distinguished biographer and critic Rachel M. Brownstein began writing about her mother Reisel during the Trump years, dwelling on the tales she told about her life and the questions they raised about nationalism, immigration, and storytelling. For most of the twentieth century, Brownstein's mother gracefully balanced her identities as an American and a Jew. Her values, her language, and her sense of timing inform the imagination of the daughter who recalls her in her own old age. The memorializing daughter interrupts, interprets, and glosses, sifting through alternate versions of the same stories using scenes, songs, and books from their time together.

But the central character of this book is Reisel, who eventually becomes Grandma Rose—always watching and judging, singing, baking, and bustling. Living life as the heroine of her own story, she reminds us how to laugh despite tragedy, find our courage, and be our most unapologetically authentic selves.

Dimension: 216 x 140 x 15 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780226823065