ARC Review - The Great Escape

Author

Steve's Book Stuff
July 11, 2023

In the summer of 2006 a large group of industrial workers - pipefitters and welders - were recruited in India for work in the United States. The men (and they were all men) were promised green cards, which would allow them permanent residence in the US. They were also promised the ability to bring their families to America. All of these men paid the recruiters large sums of money - putting their families deep into debt on the promise of a better life in the US.

Yet what the men received were temporary worker visas. Their recruiters led them to believe that, with the help of an American attorney, they would be able to turn these visas into green cards after the workers came to America. Their families would be able to join them in nine months.

They were deceived. Temporary worker visas do not turn into green cards. There was no way they were going to be joined by their families.

The men were all hired to work for Signal International, a marine construction firm specializing in offshore oil rigs. Signal had a backlog of work following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and was in desperate need of additional workers. When an immigration lawyer promised he could bring over a large number of workers from India the company jumped at the chance.

The men were housed in “man camps” in Alabama and Texas, surrounded by barbed wire fences and heavily supervised. They were only allowed out of the man camps when accompanied by a minder from Signal. Housing was in crowded and poorly constructed dormitory style buildings. Food rations were inadequate.

The Great Escape tells the story of these workers and how they overcame very long odds to right the wrongs done to them. This is the true story of one of the largest human trafficking cases ever brought in the United States, as told by Saket Soni, the labor activist who helped them through their fight. With his help, they were able to arrange the simultaneous “escape” of almost all of the men from the man camps. Then their fight for justice began.

This book is the rare nonfiction that reads like a novel, as Soni expertly builds suspense with every twist and turn. He also does a masterful job of letting us into the lives of several of the men so that we can understand them as human beings.

I flew through this book. It’s so well written that it’s hard to put down. The Great Escape will appeal to anyone who appreciates an underdog story, and a true story at that.

RATING: Five Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

NOTE: I read an advanced review copy of the book courtesy of LibraryThing and the publisher Algonquin Books. The book is currently out in hardcover, audiobook and ebook, and will be released in paperback on January 16, 2024.

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Title: The Great Escape: A True Story of Forced Labor and Immigrant Dreams in America

Author: Saket Soni

Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, an imprint of Hachette Book Group

Publish Date: Jan 16, 2024 (Trade Paperback - available now in Hardcover, Audiobook and Ebook)

ISBN-13: 9781643755755

Publisher’s List Price: $19.99 (Trade Paperback)

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