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Conditional Citizens
- On Belonging in America
- Narrated by: Laila Lalami
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
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Interview: Laila Lalami Stands for America's 'Conditional Citizens'
- Conditional Citizens
- By:Laila Lalami
- Narrated by:Laila Lalami
- Conditional Citizens
- '...I am trying to tell a story in the most truthful way that I can...'
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Publisher's Summary
A New York Times Editors' Choice • Best Book of the Year: Time, NPR, Bookpage, L.A. Times
What does it mean to be American? In this starkly illuminating and impassioned book, Pulitzer Prize-finalist Laila Lalami recounts her unlikely journey from Moroccan immigrant to US citizen, using it as a starting point for her exploration of American rights, liberties, and protections.
"Sharp, bracingly clear essays." (Entertainment Weekly)
Tapping into history, politics, and literature, she elucidates how accidents of birth - such as national origin, race, and gender - that once determined the boundaries of Americanness still cast their shadows today.
Lalami poignantly illustrates how white supremacy survives through adaptation and legislation, with the result that a caste system is maintained that keeps the modern equivalent of white male landowners at the top of the social hierarchy. Conditional citizens, she argues, are all the people with whom America embraces with one arm and pushes away with the other.
Brilliantly argued and deeply personal, Conditional Citizens weaves together Lalami’s own experiences with explorations of the place of nonwhites in the broader American culture.
Critic Reviews
Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction
One of:
Electric Literature 56 Books by Women and Nonbinary WOC to read in 2020
BuzzFeed Most Anticipated Books of 2020
Millions Most Anticipated Books of 2020
Vulture Best Upcoming Books 2020
Paste Magazine Most Anticipated Nonfiction Books of 2020
The Week Anticipated Books of 2020
BookPage: Most Anticipated Nonfiction
Ms. Magazine: Most Anticipated Feminist Books
Library Journal: Barbara’s Picks
PW top 10: Most Anticipated Politics/Current Events
LitHub: Most Anticipated Books of 2020
"In this eloquent and troubling account, novelist and National Book Award-finalist Lalami (The Other Americans) draws on her personal history as 'an immigrant, a woman, an Arab, and a Muslim' to argue that becoming a US citizen does not necessarily mean becoming 'an equal member of the American family'.... This profound inquiry into the American immigrant experience deserves to be widely read." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
“Consistently thoughtful and incisive, the book confronts the perils of our modern age with truths to inspire the coalition-building necessary to American cultural and democratic survival. A bracingly provocative collection perfect for our times.” (Kirkus reviews)
"No-holds-barred...thread[s] together the experiences of a breathtakingly diverse underclass. This constituency is increasingly finding its voice, and she is amplifying what had long been intimate, complicated inner thoughts." (NPR)
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What listeners say about Conditional Citizens
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Leila Jaafari
- 10-20-20
Blew my mind!
Read if you want to learn about citizenship, if you’ve read Lalami’s other work. So good!
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- booksandmargs
- 10-10-20
A must read!
Wow this book packed a punch. Filled with so many truths, and driving home the fact that many in the USA do not have equal treatment as citizens. She goes beyond critique and describes what a world would look like with equality for ALL citizens. Truly a must read book for anyone and everyone!
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nannie D.
- 01-28-22
All Americans should read this…
It would help everybody understand our immigration process better and how it feels to be an immigrant here, even after you do everything right and even get your citizenship. This was a really well thought out book that touches on many issues around this subject. Ive read it a few times now!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Obed Esq
- 12-23-20
MUST LISTEN!
Laila’s insightful piece and amazing storytelling takes you around the globe and teach you about valuable lessons and facts since America’s inception against migrants, females and POC.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mary J Becerra
- 12-22-20
Nailed it
Very well explained what conditional citizen means. I feel like I have been living underneath a rock. Lalami explains in many ways how races are marginalized historically and present day. She shares personal experiences as well as statistical data. Makes me wonder why we Americans are so self absorbed. Why don’t we do much more to educate ourselves in becoming better humans?
Very thought provoking.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- J. Piper
- 12-04-20
Everyone should listen/read this book
This is reality. Most folks like to ignore or sweep it under the rug but this problem drags down all of us. The folks who would benefit most from this book will never read it (perhaps because they can’t read more than a text or headline or concentrate for more than 140 characters).
