A collection of memoirs of deeply personal experiences from South America to Africa, Unrooted Childhoods presents a cultural mosaic of today's global citizens. In twenty stirring memoirs of childhoods spent packing, writings by the famous and the new-many published here for the first time-make universal the experience of growing up without the opportunity to ever "put down roots." World-renowned novelist and author of the powerful autobiography Paula, Isabel Allende captures the essence of coming of age in Chilean diplomatic communities in Bolivia and Lebanon and a global childhood rich in adventures that nurtured her creative soul. Best-selling author and world traveler Pico Iyer, in "Living in the Transit Lounge," sees a mobile childhood as a solid foundation for a life in a restless and increasingly multicultural world. Pat Conroy, author of such well-known autobiographical tales as The Great Santini and My Losing Season, writes of estrangement and the long-term impact of more than twenty moves with his military family during his childhood. And Carlos Fuentes, one of Mexico's most important writers, evokes the powerful link between language and cultural identity in "How I Started to Write."