Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable
Audiobook13 hours
Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference
Written by Warren St. John
Narrated by Lincoln Hoppe
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
The extraordinary tale of a refugee youth soccer team and the transformation of a small American town
Clarkston, Georgia, was a typical Southern town until it was designated a refugee settlement center in the 1990s, becoming the first American home for scores of families in flight from the world's war zones-from Liberia and Sudan to Iraq and Afghanistan. Suddenly Clarkston's streets were filled with women wearing the hijab, the smells of cumin and curry, and kids of all colors playing soccer in any open space they could find. The town also became home to Luma Mufleh, an American-educated Jordanian woman who founded a youth soccer team to unify Clarkston's refugee children and keep them off the streets. These kids named themselves the Fugees.
Set against the backdrop of an American town that without its consent had become a vast social experiment, Outcasts United follows a pivotal season in the life of the Fugees and their charismatic coach. Warren St. John documents the lives of a diverse group of young people as they miraculously coalesce into a band of brothers, while also drawing a fascinating portrait of a fading American town struggling to accommodate its new arrivals. At the center of the story is fiery Coach Luma, who relentlessly drives her players to success on the soccer field while holding together their lives-and the lives of their families-in the face of a series of daunting challenges.
This fast-paced chronicle of a single season is a complex and inspiring tale of a small town becoming a global community-and an account of the ingenious and complicated ways we create a home in a changing world.
Clarkston, Georgia, was a typical Southern town until it was designated a refugee settlement center in the 1990s, becoming the first American home for scores of families in flight from the world's war zones-from Liberia and Sudan to Iraq and Afghanistan. Suddenly Clarkston's streets were filled with women wearing the hijab, the smells of cumin and curry, and kids of all colors playing soccer in any open space they could find. The town also became home to Luma Mufleh, an American-educated Jordanian woman who founded a youth soccer team to unify Clarkston's refugee children and keep them off the streets. These kids named themselves the Fugees.
Set against the backdrop of an American town that without its consent had become a vast social experiment, Outcasts United follows a pivotal season in the life of the Fugees and their charismatic coach. Warren St. John documents the lives of a diverse group of young people as they miraculously coalesce into a band of brothers, while also drawing a fascinating portrait of a fading American town struggling to accommodate its new arrivals. At the center of the story is fiery Coach Luma, who relentlessly drives her players to success on the soccer field while holding together their lives-and the lives of their families-in the face of a series of daunting challenges.
This fast-paced chronicle of a single season is a complex and inspiring tale of a small town becoming a global community-and an account of the ingenious and complicated ways we create a home in a changing world.
Unavailable
Author
Warren St. John
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Warren St John is currently a reporter for the New York Times. He has also written extensively for The New Yorker, the New York Observer and Wired. He studied at Columbia University and lives in New York.
Related to Outcasts United
Related audiobooks
Presidents: United In Leadership: 4-In-1 History Of Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt & Kennedy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlive: The Story of the Andes Survivors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5America's Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMayflower Lives: Pilgrims in a New World and the Early American Experience Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The American South: A Very Short Introduction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5150 Great Americans Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Elon Musk: Innovator, Entrepreneur and Visionary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGameDay: The Untold Story of College Football Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Invisible Countries: Journeys to the Edge of Nationhood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Heritage History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Rope from the Sky: The Making and Unmaking of the World's Newest State Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe National Road: Dispatches from a Changing America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fall of the House of Dixie: The Civil War and the Social Revolution That Transformed the South Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crystal Eastman: A Revolutionary Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsProphetic City: Houston on the Cusp of a Changing America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Praying with One Eye Open: Mormons and Murder in Nineteenth-Century Appalachian Georgia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Latino Americans: The 500-Year Legacy That Shaped a Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Empire of Shadows: The Epic Story of Yellowstone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Founders: How People of African Descent Established Freedom in the New World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA New History of the American South Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOne Writer's Beginnings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Contested Boundaries: A New Pacific Northwest History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings50 Great American Places: Essential Historic Sites Across the U.S. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Widow Washington: The Life of Mary Washington Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Emigration, Immigration, and Refugees For You
The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5MS-13: The Making of America's Most Notorious Gang Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shackled: One Woman’s Dramatic Triumph Over Persecution, Gender Abuse, and a Death Sentence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nine Irish Lives: The Thinkers, Fighters, and Artists Who Helped Build America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond the Sand and Sea: One Family's Quest for a Country to Call Home Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You Sound Like a White Girl: The Case for Rejecting Assimilation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summary of Javier Zamora's Solito Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFactory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sigh, Gone: A Misfit's Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5LatinoLand: A Portrait of America's Largest and Least Understood Minority Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReborn in the USA: An Englishman’s Love Letter to His Chosen Home Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become an American Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Beast: Riding the Rails and Dodging Narcos on the Migrant Trail Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Spirit Run: A 6000-Mile Marathon Through North America's Stolen Land Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5They Came for Freedom: The Forgotten, Epic Adventure of the Pilgrims Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Are Not Refugees: True Stories of the Displaced Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unforgetting: A Memoir of Family, Migration, Gangs, and Revolution in the Americas Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Somewhere We Are Human: Authentic Voices on Migration, Survival, and New Beginnings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Like Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Death in the Afternoon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Jewish State Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5One Mighty and Irresistible Tide: The Epic Struggle Over American Immigration, 1924-1965 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Where the Wind Leads: A Refugee Family's Miraculous Story of Loss, Rescue, and Redemption Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The God Who Sees: Immigrants, the Bible, and the Journey to Belong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Outcasts United
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
1 rating1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An interesting investigation on the changes happening to Clarckston, Georgia as new UN refugees arrive in the city. Luma played a pivotal role by leading a refugees youth soccer team. I enjoyed this story though some parts are too detailed and the character of Luma could have been described in a deeper manner.