Join us for the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights’  Board and Leadership Council Book Club Conversation at 2 pm ET on August 21st. We host these virtual gatherings as features of our reading list to engage our members, amplify social justice activists,  authors, and journalists, and provide a deep dive into our work. We are excited to feature the winner of the 2025 RFK Book Award as this month’s read.  

Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America and the Making of Crisis tells the epic story of the people whose lives ebb and flow across the border, delving into the heart of American life itself. This vital and remarkable story has shaped the nation’s turbulent politics and culture in countless ways—and will almost certainly determine its future.

As Jonathan Blitzer dramatizes with forensic, unprecedented reporting, this crisis is the result of decades of misguided policy and sweeping corruption. Brilliantly weaving the stories of Central Americans whose lives have been devastated by chronic political conflict and violence with those of American activists, government officials, and the politicians responsible for the country’s tragically tangled immigration policy, Blitzer reveals the full, layered picture of this vast and unremitting conflict.

We hope you’ll join us on August 21st at 2pm ET. Registration links will be sent via email. This webinar and opportunity to engage with the author is open to the members of RFKHR Board of Directors and Leadership Council and their networks. Additional guests are able to view the discussion via social media platforms. Please feel free to invite those you feel would be invigorated by joining the conversation. 

Meet the Author: Jonathan Blitzer, ​​Staff Writer, New Yorker

Jonathan Blitzer, a staff writer at The New Yorker, covers immigration, politics, and foreign affairs. He won a 2017 National Award for Education Reporting for “American Studies,” a story about an underground school for undocumented immigrants. He is also the recipient of a 2019 Edward R. Murrow Award; the 2018 Immigration Journalism Prize, from the French-American Foundation; and a Media Leadership Award, from the American Immigration Lawyers Association. He was a 2021 Emerson Fellow at New America. His first book, “Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis,” was named one of the ten best books of 2024 by the New York Times. It also received the 2025 Hillman Prize for Book Journalism and the 2025 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award.