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Between Everything and Nothing

Between Everything and Nothing

by Joe Meno

Counterpoint LLC ·2020 ·336 pages ·Investigative Journalism
Maybe Someday
Maybe Someday
I Index
39/99
Maybe Someday

30/99

Critics

Maybe Someday

48/99

Readers

n/a

Scholars

27/99

Rating

34/99

Volume

84/99

Rating

12/99

Volume

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About This Book

Joe Meno brings a novelist's eye to the true story of two young men from Ghana and their journey from the unjust political system of their homeland through the chaos of the United States' failing immigration system Based on extensive interviews with Seidu Mohammed and Razak Iyal, Joe Meno's nonfiction debut recounts the harrowing journey of two Ghanian asylum seekers hoping to build a better life in North America. Long before ever meeting by chance at a Minneapolis bus station on December 23rd, 2016, Seidu and Razak had already endured more injustice than most. Forced to flee the inhumane social policies of their native Ghana, both men separately embarked on perilous odysseys that took them through the jungles and bureaucracies of South and Central America. Like countless immigrants before, they arrived at the United States border with high hopes and the reasonable expectation that their worst days were behind them. But instead of finding asylum and the American Dream, Seidu and Razak became trapped in a nightmare as detainees in a private detention facility where a byzantine and cruel plea process stripped them of their humanity and treated them like criminals simply for wanting the chance at a better life. Unable to return to Ghana and with the rise of anti-immigration sentiment extinguishing any lingering hopes for a happy outcome in the United States, Seidu and Razak set their sights on Canada. Crossing the Canadian border would prove to be riskier and more tragic than anything that came before. Seidu and Razak's perilous journey has already received international media attention for the way it typifies the uncaring and exploitative immigration crisis at our southern border and beyond. With this intimate and heartbreaking account, Joe Meno brings to life the horrors of the global asylum industry, adding a much needed personal dimension to one of the greatest humanitarian concerns the world now faces.


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Reviews

"The narrative is dispiriting, as Meno documents the Kafkaesque, for-profit reality of today's immigration morass, but Meno writes deftly, with a fine sense of detail and place, bringing an all-too-common story to life ..."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Based heavily on the refugees' own accounts and supplemented by the author's research, this work will be valued by general readers interested in the stories of recent refugees."

Charles K. Piehl· Library Journal Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Meno's well-written story of survival and friendship puts individual faces on the plight of millions of refugees around the world."

Publishers Weekly Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Their similar reactions of fear, anger and disbelief along the way feel repetitive."

Alexis Okeowo· The New York Times Read review ↗ Maybe Someday

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