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An Unlikely Journey

Waking Up from My American Dream

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
Julian Castro, 2020 Presidential candidate, keynote speaker at the 2012 DNC, and former San Antonio mayor and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, tells his remarkable and inspiring life story.
In the spirit of a young Barack Obama's Dreams from My Father comes a candid and compelling memoir about race and poverty in America. In many ways, there was no reason Julian Castro would have been expected to be a success. Born to unmarried parents in a poverty-stricken neighborhood of a struggling city, his prospects of escaping his circumstance seemed bleak.
But he and his twin brother Joaquin had something going for them: their mother. A former political activist, she provided the launch pad for what would become an astonishing ascent. Julian and Joaquin would go on to attend Stanford and Harvard before entering politics at the ripe age of 26. Soon after, Joaquin become a state representative and Julian was elected mayor of San Antonio, a city he helped revitalize and transform into one of the country's leading economies.
His success in Texas propelled him onto the national stage, where he was the keynote speaker at the 2012 DNC — the same spot President Obama held three conventions prior — and then to Washington D.C. where he served as the Obama Administration's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
After being shortlisted as a potential running mate for Hillary Clinton, he became a 2020 Presidential candidate. Julian Castro's story not only affirms the American dream, but also resonates with millions, who in an age of political cynicism and hardening hearts are searching for a new hero. No matter one's politics, this book is the transcendent story of a resilient family and the unlikely journey of an emerging national icon.
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    • Library Journal

      June 1, 2018

      Born with twin brother Joaquin to unmarried parents, Castro tells an American-dream-come-true story of his rise from poverty to become mayor of San Antonio, keynote speaker at the 2012 Democratic Convention, and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in President Barack Obama's administration.

      Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Kirkus

      October 15, 2018
      The former San Antonio mayor and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development tells the story of how he rose from humble origins to live the American dream.Born to Chicano activist parents, Castro and his twin brother, Joaquín, grew up in a household where both were taught "the importance of political engagement" from an early age. They also grew up imbibing the "trifecta of...religion, cooking and stories" provided to them by their Mexican grandmother, who had first crossed into the United States as an orphan in the early 1920s. Their father eventually left the family; undaunted, Castro's mother completed a master's program in urban studies and worked at an internship with the City of San Antonio while raising her sons and caring for an aging mother. The difficulties the brothers faced at home forced them to learn "how to support each other without a parent around" and helped them overcome their ongoing rivalry. Determined to fulfill their mother's wishes that they "reach as high as [they] possibly could," they graduated high school near the top of their class and entered Stanford University. There, they continued to excel and won election to the student senate. Before the brothers went on to attend Harvard Law School, the author briefly taught high school in San Antonio in a working-class Mexican-American neighborhood similar to the ones he had known as a child. The experience left him determined to use his education to help ordinary citizens and especially Mexican-Americans. He and Joaquín returned to San Antonio to work as lawyers and begin careers in politics. Joaquín went on to win a seat in the House of Representatives while the author became mayor and then joined the Barack Obama administration as HUD secretary. Eloquent in its simplicity, Castro's book offers a moving account of immigrant success that seeks to encourage all Americans to continue the fight against government injustice toward immigrants.A timely, inspiring memoir.

      COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Kirkus

      October 15, 2018
      The former San Antonio mayor and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development tells the story of how he rose from humble origins to live the American dream.Born to Chicano activist parents, Castro and his twin brother, Joaqu�n, grew up in a household where both were taught "the importance of political engagement" from an early age. They also grew up imbibing the "trifecta of...religion, cooking and stories" provided to them by their Mexican grandmother, who had first crossed into the United States as an orphan in the early 1920s. Their father eventually left the family; undaunted, Castro's mother completed a master's program in urban studies and worked at an internship with the City of San Antonio while raising her sons and caring for an aging mother. The difficulties the brothers faced at home forced them to learn "how to support each other without a parent around" and helped them overcome their ongoing rivalry. Determined to fulfill their mother's wishes that they "reach as high as [they] possibly could," they graduated high school near the top of their class and entered Stanford University. There, they continued to excel and won election to the student senate. Before the brothers went on to attend Harvard Law School, the author briefly taught high school in San Antonio in a working-class Mexican-American neighborhood similar to the ones he had known as a child. The experience left him determined to use his education to help ordinary citizens and especially Mexican-Americans. He and Joaqu�n returned to San Antonio to work as lawyers and begin careers in politics. Joaqu�n went on to win a seat in the House of Representatives while the author became mayor and then joined the Barack Obama administration as HUD secretary. Eloquent in its simplicity, Castro's book offers a moving account of immigrant success that seeks to encourage all Americans to continue the fight against government injustice toward immigrants.A timely, inspiring memoir.

      COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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