On The Immigrant Next Door, Collected Stories of the American Experience by James Kenyon
By Emilie Moll, Meadowlark Press
My name is Emilie Moll, I’m an editorial assistant and book editor for Meadowlark Press, an independent publisher based in Emporia, Kansas. Late last year, I had the privilege of being assigned one of Meadowlark’s latest book projects, a Spring 2025 release called The Immigrant Next Door; Collected Stories of the American Experience, by James Kenyon, and today I’d like to share with you why this project is especially important and worth the read.
James Kenyon is a native of Western Kansas. If you’ve heard his name before, it might be because this is his sixth published book. He’s written extensively about the history of rural, Midwest high schools, and has twice won the Martin Kansas History Book Award. That is to say, he’s deeply Midwestern.
Kenyon’s gregarious spirit, and general passion for humanity shines brighter than ever in this latest collection of thirty-one interviews with American immigrants. Each chapter features a person or family whom Kenyon personally interviewed or posthumously researched. Through Kenyon’s personable reach, the reader gains access to intimate conversations, ones that uncover the details of journeys across continents and oceans, as they sought in a very immediate sense, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
I like to think of this book, especially with its appropriate title, as an example of what you might find if you talked to your neighbor, the immigrant who lives next door to you. In a world where personal connection within our communities seems to have become less prioritized, I learned from working on this book how incredible the stories of the people around us can be, just waiting there to be asked about. I believe it’s important to know them, and to share them. Because, it matters where we come from, it often shapes who we are. And while reaching out to your neighbor allows you to know more about the people around you, and even the world beyond, it also opens the door for you to be known as well.
Upon reading these stories, I also gained a more firm understanding that there is more that connects us than what separates us. Thirty-one different stories, no two of them the same, and yet they all desire the same things we all want; safety, security, and free will, for ourselves and for our families.
I feel like I got to know these teachers, entrepreneurs, artists, and healthcare workers, these people doing honest work, contributing to American society, often with a deep sense of loyalty to their adopted country. And they rarely did it alone—if you want to restore some of your faith in humanity, look no further than the people who offered favors to these travelers and demanded nothing in return, cementing themselves as integral parts of these people’s life stories.
Beyond the personal histories shared in The Immigrant Next Door, Kenyon takes the time to contextualize the events that take place for each immigrant. World War II had a profound effect on American industry and culture, but have you ever wondered what the war looked like to a child from the Netherlands, traveling alone through Europe? How about a German mother, desperate to protect her children? Have you ever wondered what it looks like to raise a family in rural Ethiopia? What is it like to have been raised as a child in refugee camps in Thailand?
The Immigrant Next Door holds more than the answers to these questions: it holds their answers. Come and meet your neighbor.
I’m Emilie Moll for the HPPR Radio Readers Book Club’s Summer Reading List.
Emilie Moll is an editorial assistant and book editor for Meadowlark Press. She holds a BA in English from Emporia State University, where she studied creative writing and Spanish. Emilie was the recipient of the 2024 NextGen Under 30 Kansas Award in the “The Arts” category. She has worked as an editor for Issue Twenty-Eight of Flint Hills Review, has had work published in the Kansas Authors Club Zine, and currently manages the Kansas Authors Club Annual Youth Writing Contest. Emilie lives in Emporia, Kansas, with her partner and their two cats.
