Once I Was You Audiobook By Maria Hinojosa cover art

Once I Was You

A Memoir of Love and Hate in a Torn America

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Once I Was You

By: Maria Hinojosa
Narrated by: Maria Hinojosa
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About this listen

NPR’s Best Books of 2020

BookPage’s Best Books of 2020

Real Simple’s Best Books of 2020

Boston.com readers voted one of Best Books of 2020

“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 30 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. Best-selling author Julia Álvarez 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 tú.

©2020 Maria Hinojosa (P)2020 Simon & Schuster Audio
Emigration & Immigration Journalists, Editors & Publishers Politics & Government Racism & Discrimination United States Heartfelt Thought-Provoking Inspiring

Editorial Review

One of the best books of 2020, Maria Hinojosa brings heavy truth out from the shadows with honesty and vulnerability. This essential journalist's memoir will move you to action if you like hard-hitting insights that dive deep into inequities and uncover injustice.
In her audiobook, Hinojosa recounts her family's story with pride and intent. Her first-row seat to the impact immigration policies had on her family makes her experiences invaluable to your awareness. The Emmy Award-winning journalist has relayed countless stories about the world surrounding her, and in this audiobook, she relays the world that lives inside her.
Hinojosa tackles immigration history in Once I Was You: A Memoir of Love and Hate in a Torn America through the lens of her Mexican-American family. Born in Mexico City but raised in a diverse area of Chicago known for its crime in specific neighborhoods, Hinojosa witnessed firsthand a torn America. This powerful book illustrates a simple look into a better approach to a better world.
Immigrants live in a state of anxiety that doesn't provide them with the means to write their own narratives. As a result, institutional structures allow less protection to one of the most vulnerable populations in America, yet those living this reality are rarely heard. In this melting pot of a country with a rich history of immigration, there are glaring inequities plaguing society, and Once I Was You examines ways to address these injustices. It takes a strong voice to champion the Latino community, a community of over 60 million Spanish-speaking people.
Hinojosa has become one of the most esteemed Latina voices to handle the mission, providing representation through mainstream media channels such as Latino USA, CNN, NPR, and CBS. In her journalism work, she has interviewed many celebrated Latino icons, including Lin Manuel Miranda, Cherríe Moraga, Dolores Huerta, and more. —Audible Latino Editor.