As Andre Dubus III opens House of Sand and Fog, his third book, a very proud, strong, fifty-six-year-old Iranian man is working on a highway trash crew with a group of Mexicans, Panamanians, Vietnamese, and Chinese workers. Here, at the bottom rung of American working society are the immigrants, the expatriates, the men who have left their native countries because of war, economics, and politics. Regardless of their skills, educations, or positions in their home countries, they must work at one of the most menial jobs, collecting trash along the side of a busy highway above Sausalito and the Golden Gate Park. In this riveting opening scene on a highway in California, the Golden State, are symbolically enacted both the promise of new lives and the obstacles facing those trying to obtain them. Dubus announces the immigrant theme in this scene and the social issues surrounding...