With a new introduction by author Laurie Olsen, this timely reissue probes the challenges facing teachers and immigrant students in our public schools.
As the United States reexamines its borders and immigration policies, the debate over educating immigrant students in our public schools has divided Americans. What can teachers and immigrant students expect from each other? Laurie Olsen, director of a nationally recognized immigrant organization, describes what it looks and feels like to go to school and to teach in a culturally diverse environment.
"Made in America" describes Madison High, a prototypical public high school, where more than 20 percent of students were born in another country and more than a third speak limited English or come from homes in which English is not spoken. Through interviews with teachers, administrators, students, and parents, Olsen explores such issues as the complexities of bilingual education and the difficulties of dating for students already promised in marriage at birth.
In the words of "Teacher Magazine," "Olsen's message is clear: celebrating diversity is fine, but it's no substitute for giving all students a real chance at school success." With a new introduction stressing the importance of advocacy for immigrant students in a climate of increasing exclusion, "Made in America" will help a new generation of educators recognize the impact that immigration has on their schools.

A century after her birth, Tillie Olsen's writing is as relevant as when it first appeared; indeed, the clarity and passion of her vision and style have, if anything, become even more striking over time. Collected here for the first time are several of Olsen's nonfiction pieces about the 1930s, early journalism pieces, and short fiction, including the four beautifully crafted, highly celebrated stories originally published as "Tell Me a Riddle" "I Stand Here Ironing," "Hey Sailor, What Ship?," "O Yes," and "Tell Me a Riddle." Also included, for the first time since it appeared in the 1971 Best American Short Stories, is "Requa I."

In these stories, as in all of her work, Olsen set a new standard for the treatment of women and the poor and for the depiction of their lives and circumstances. In her hands, the hard truths about motherhood and marriage, domestic life, labor, and political conviction found expression in language of such poetic intensity and depth that its influence continues to be felt today.

An introduction by Olsen's granddaughter, the poet Rebekah Edwards, and a foreword by her daughter Laurie Olsen provide a personal and generational context for the author's work.