This inspiring memoir by Gold Star parent and captivating DNC speaker Khizr Khan is the story of one family’s pursuit of the American dream and why—especially in these tumultuous times—we must not be afraid to step forward for what we believe in when it matters most.

An American Family is an intensely personal story about the nature of true patriotism and what it’s like to risk everything you know for the promise of a 226-year-old piece of parchment. As Khizr Khan traces his remarkable journey—from humble beginnings on a poultry farm in Pakistan to obtaining a degree from Harvard Law School and raising a family in America—he shows what it means to leave the limitations of one’s country behind for the best values and promises of another. The book is a stark depiction of what an American looks like, what being a nation of immigrants really means, and what it is to live—rather than simply to pay lip service to—our ideals.

Khizr Khan was born in 1950, the eldest of ten children, to poultry farming parents in Gujranwala, a city in rural Pakistan. He moved to the United States with his wife Ghazala in 1980. The couple became American citizens in 1986, and raised their three sons in Silver Lake, Maryland. His middle son, Captain Humayun Khan, was killed in 2004 in a suicide attack near Baqubah, Iraq, and was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart and Bronze Star. Khizr works as a legal consultant, and is involved with the University of Virginia’s ROTC program.