BOOKS: Dear America

Jose Antonio Vargas’s memoir Dear America is a very timely and compelling coming out story. Growing up, he just assumed he was like everyone else, and at age 16 when he discovered the truth about himself, it really unmoored him and he wondered what his future could be like. He buried himself in being a top student and extracurricular overachiever, hoping to hide his secret. (Many gay men will recognize “best little boy in the world” syndrome.) Staying in the closet would take a big emotional toll on him, even as he went on to an impressive career as a journalist, including winning a Pulitzer. Vargas happens to be gay, but that’s not the crux of his story. His life has been shaped by discovering that he was an undocumented immigrant. This book should be essential reading for all engaged Americans. So often our current debates about immigration are based in abstractions and stereotypes, without knowing the actual people affected by our policies. Vargas opens a window onto the life of an undocumented person in America by telling his own story. It is illuminating, and at times moving and surprising. This book is not a political essay, it is a personal memoir. But as we gay people have learned, sharing your own story can be the most compelling argument of all.