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Edited By America Ferrera, “American Like Me” Explores Life Between Cultures

by BUST Magazine

American Like Me: Reflections on Life ?Between Cultures
Edited by America Ferrera
(Gallery Books)

For many immigrants or children of immigrants in America, the concept of identity is complicated. “We live as citizens of a country that does not always claim us or even see us,” writes American Ferrera (star of Ugly Betty and Superstore) in her intro to the anthology American Like Me, a collection of essays by actors, athletes, writers, and other pop-culture personalities exploring the challenges of living between cultures. Many of these contributors paint two narratives: their lives at home enveloped in the foreign customs and philosophies of a distant land, and the ones they face among their American peers and classmates. Navigating between the two is often isolating. And many authors admit to attempting to shed their non-American selves in order to assimilate.

Featuring essays by Uzo Aduba, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Roxane Gay, Kal Penn, Jenny Zhang, Kumail Nanjiani, Linda Sarsour, Padma Lakshmi, Issa Rae, and more, American Like Me is vibrant, fresh, and certainly timely, offering candid portrayals of what it feels like to be the “other.” (5/5)

By Helen Matatov
American Like Me is out now.

This article originally appeared in the October/November 2018  print edition of BUST Magazine. Subscribe today!

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Founded in 1993, BUST is the inclusive feminist lifestyle trailblazer offering a unique mix of humor, female-focused entertainment, uncensored personal stories, and candid reporting that tells the truth about women’s lives.

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