This Is What America Looks Like

Ilhan Omar

With Rebecca Paley

Hardback

9781787383418

My Journey from Refugee to Congresswoman

‘A genuinely inspirational memoir’ — The Guardian

Ilhan Omar’s career is a collection of historic firsts: she is the first refugee, the first Somali-American and one of the first two Muslim women to serve in the United States Congress. Against a xenophobic and divisive administration, she has risen to global fame as a powerful voice in the Democratic Party’s new progressive chorus of congresswomen of colour.

This Is What America Looks Like is a tale of the aspirations, disappointments, successes and surprises in the life of an immigrant and Muslim in the US today. This is Omar’s story told on her own terms: from a childhood in Mogadishu and four long years at a Kenyan refugee camp, to her arrival in America—penniless and speaking only Somali—and her triumphant election to the US House of Representatives.

In the face of merciless slander and constant attacks from opponents in both parties, Omar continues to speak up for her beliefs. Courageous, hopeful and defiant, her memoir is marked by her irrepressible spirit, even in the darkest of times.

Contents

1. Fighter

2. War

3. When the Mouth of the Shark Is Safer Than Home

4. Refugee

5. American Dream

6. Hello and Shut Up

7. Minnesota nice

8. Settling Down

9. Blessings

10. Early Midlife Crisis

11. Education

12. Return

13. Politics

14. City Hall

15. Running

16. You Get What You Organize For

17. America’s Hope and the President’s Nightmare

18. Walking In Like a White Man

19. Running Again

20. The World Belongs to Those Who Show Up