A powerful collection of essays from actors, activists, athletes, politicians, musicians, writers, and teens, each writing about a time in their youth when they were held back because of their race, gender, or sexual identity-- but persisted. Among others: actress Alia Shawkat was told she was too "ethnic" for parts. Former NFL player Wade Davis bullied other gay classmates in an attempt to hide his own sexuality. Holocaust survivor Fanny Starr tells of her harrowing time in Auschwitz, where she watched her family disappear, one by one. They tell how they rose through the hate, overcoming the obstacles of their childhood to the hard-won lives they live today.