Can't Is Not an Option
My American Story
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- €5.49
Publisher Description
From the former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, an inspirational memoir of family, hope, and the power of the American Dream.
Decades before their daughter surprised the nation by becoming governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley's parents had a dream. Ajit and Raj Randhawa were well-educated, well-off Sikhs in the Punjab region of India. But despite their high social status, the Randhawas wanted more for their family-the opportunities that only America could offer.
So they left behind all they had known and settled in Bamberg, South Carolina (population: 2,500). As the first Indian family in a small Southern town in the early 1970s, the Randhawas faced ignorance, prejudice, and sometimes blatant hostility. But the Randhawas taught their children that they should never think of themselves as victims. They stressed that if you work hard and stay true to yourself, you can overcome any obstacle. The key is believing that can't is not an option.
Haley's story, as told firsthand in this inspiring memoir, is a testament to the power of determination, faith, and family. And it's proof that the American Dream is still strong and true in the twenty- first century.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The daughter of Sikhs who immigrated to the States from India in the late 1960s, Haley grew up in small-town Bamberg, S.C. Though she asserts it's "a different place" today, Haley recalls being discriminated against: competing as a child in a Wee Miss Bamberg pageant, which gave prizes for a black queen and a white queen, she and her sister were given beach balls as consolation prizes, as there was no crown for Indian girls. However, her remarkable life is proof that she and the state have overcome their once tenuous relationship. She graduated from Clemson in the 1990s and began her political career shortly thereafter, mounting a successful underdog campaign that ended in the South Carolina House of Representatives. When Haley decided to run for governor, she earned the endorsements of Sarah Palin and the (deposed) governor's wife, Jenny Sanford, and she doesn't hesitate to invoke God's role in her election as well. An avowed advocate of the Tea Party, Haley insists that she and the party are a natural fit because "they understand the importance of putting principles before politics." Along the way she's learned that "Winners do what losers don't want to do." Haley's book details her impressive progress, but unfortunately reflects today's political practice of hurling criticism at one's opponents early and often.
