Invisible People
Stories of Lives at the Margins

PB: $17.95
EAN: 978-1-4399-1831-9
Publication: Oct 21
HC: $25.00
EAN: 978-1-4399-1830-2
Publication: Nov 19
Ebook: $25.00
EAN: 978-1-4399-1832-6
Publication: Nov 19
264 pages
5.25 x 8.5
1 halftone
Now in Paperback —an anthology of richly reported and beautifully written stories about marginalized people
Read the Introduction from the hardcover (PDF).Description
“Somewhere in the tangle of the subject’s burden and the subject’s desire is your story.”—Alex Tizon
Every human being has an epic story. The late Pulitzer Prize–winning writer Alex Tizon told the epic stories of marginalized people—from lonely immigrants struggling to forge a new American identity to a high school custodian who penned a New Yorker short story. Edited by Tizon’s friend and former colleague Sam Howe Verhovek, Invisible People collects the best of Tizon’s rich, empathetic accounts—including “My Family’s Slave,” the Atlantic magazine cover story about the woman who raised him and his siblings under conditions that amounted to indentured servitude.
In their introductions to Tizon’s pieces, New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet, Atlantic magazine editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg, Pulitzer Prize winners Kim Murphy and Jacqui Banaszynski, and others salute Tizon’s respect for his subjects and the beauty and brilliance of his writing. Invisible People is a loving tribute to a journalist whose search for his own identity prompted him to chronicle the lives of others.
Reviews
Praise for the hardcover edition:
“(Alex Tizon) is the master of the telling detail that penetrates the surface and makes us understand something or someone—and ultimately ourselves—in a deeper way. Tizon’s beautiful book is as powerful as they come.”
—Cheryl Strayed
"(B)oth longtime fans and those relatively new to Tizon’s work will come away from this collection with an appreciation for his unquestionable ability to narrate unusual stories in memorable ways."
— Publishers Weekly
“A memorable collection that shows how much journalism lost with the early death of one of its finest.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Alex Tizon documented the world’s harshest injustices, including modern slavery and genocide. In particular, he explored the psyche of underdogs who, facing considerable difficulty, mightily continued to fight back. Invisible People is brilliant proof of concept.” —David Shields, author of Reality Hunger: A Manifesto
"Tizon’s talent was in seeking out those with stories to tell outside of the mainstream: those who don’t quite fit in, whether because of their race, religion, ethnicity, or lifestyle. Easy answers don’t exist in Invisible People ; each piece leaves the audience a little bit unsettled, wanting more. The collection may focus on those who are invisible, but Tizon’s writing was anything but."
— Foreword Reviews
"This collection provides a series of captivating stories about everyday people and the lives they lead. While echoes of Studs Terkel’s Working reverberate, Tizon’s collection has a broader coverage and masterful style. His method of engaging subjects with incisive questions and deep respect, coupled with his poetic ability to craft vivid descriptions and slowly unfold a narrative, creates relatable stories about people whom you want to know and understand better."
—
Table of Contents
Foreword, by Jose Antonio Vargas
Introduction, by Sam Howe Verhovek
PART I ALEX’S STORY
An excerpt from Big Little Man: In Search of My Asian Self
Introduced by Deanne Urmy
PART II IMMIGRANTS
My Family’s Slave
The Atlantic, June 2017
Introduced by Jeffrey Goldberg
For Seattle’s Cambodian Refugees, Time and Distance Can’t Bury Memories of the Killing Fields
Seattle Times, January 23, 1994
and
Strangers in a Strange Land: The Hmong Orphans of History
Seattle Times, March 12, 1996
Introduced by David Boardman
Death of a Dreamer: A Young Bride from the Philippines Is Murdered
Seattle Times, April 21, 1996
Introduced by Terry McDermott
A Death in Gaza: Peace Advocate and “a Heart Too Big to Hold”
Los Angeles Times, March 18, 2003
Introduced by Lynn Marshall
PART III NATIVES
On Edge: 9/11, a Muslim Family and a Wyoming Town
Seattle Times, September 21, 2001
Introduced by Jacqui Banaszynski
A Matter of Justice and Honor: The Fight to Clear Chief Leschi’s Name
Los Angeles Times, December 28, 2004
Introduced by Scott Kraft
A World Away in Navajo Nation: Far from the Sept. 11 Fallout
Seattle Times, September 1, 2002
Introduced by Alan Berner
The Fish Tale that Changed History
Seattle Times, February 7, 1999
Introduced by Florangela Davila
Alaska by Way of Katrina: At the Far Edge of a New Orleans Diaspora
Los Angeles Times, March 7, 2006
Introduced by Dean Baquet
PART IV LONERS
Thom Jones and the Cosmic Joke: Author’s Surprise “Success” Breeds Misery
From the Seattle Times, April 2, 2000
Introduced by Nicole Brodeur
Seeking Poetic Justice: A Pacifist Author Leads an Online Antiwar Movement Rooted in Language and Imagery
Los Angeles Times, March 3, 2003
and
An Iraq War All His Own: An Exemplary Soldier Goes on Trial for Refusing to Fight in a War He Calls Illegal
Los Angeles Times, February 5, 2007
Introduced by Kim Murphy
In the Land of Missing Persons
The Atlantic, April 2016
Introduced by Denise Kersten Wills
Last but Not Least: The Lonely White House Bids of Two Longshots
Los Angeles Times, July 25, 2007
Introduced by Sam Howe Verhovek
PART V VILLAINS
John Muhammad’s Meltdown
Seattle Times, November 10, 2002
Introduced by James Neff
The Story of a Drive-by Murder at Ballard High
Seattle Times, March 8, 1998
Introduced by Jim Simon
PART VI ECCENTRICS
Onward Christian Surfers: Spreading the Gospel on Waikiki
Los Angeles Times, May 31, 2006
and
In an Old Nuclear Bunker, This Guy Has the Lowdown on UFOs
Los Angeles Times, March 28, 2008
Introduced by Sam Howe Verhovek
Mrs. Leu, Tear Down That Wall! A U.S.-Canada Border Flap in Her Yard
Los Angeles Times, May 26, 2007
Introduced by Millie Quan
This Law Ain’t No Friend of His: Elvis the Cabbie Fights for Kingly Attire
Los Angeles Times, August 24, 2003
Introduced by Brian Lindstrom
PART VII ORACLES
“Old Ladies Do What We Can”: Dispatches from a New Nation
Seattle Times, September 18, 2001
Introduced by Jacqui Banaszynski
Crossing America: “We Need to Pray Deep”
Seattle Times, October 2, 2001
Introduced by Alan Berner
Acknowledgments