West of Kabul, East of New York: An Afghan American History

ISBN 10: 0786171553 ISBN 13: 9780786171552

Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks, 2007

Synopsis

"A book that steadies our skittering compass...It speaks with a modesty of tone and is all the more resonant for that reason....[It] sees things we cannot make out, and need to."--The New York Times

About this title

About the Author:

Tamim Ansary is the award-winning author of Destiny Disrupted and West of Kabul, East of New York. He has been a major contributing writer to several secondary-school history textbooks offering an Islamic perspective.

From Booklist:

People sought solace and understanding online after the terrorist attacks of September 11, sending original e-mails and forwarding others, including, unbeknownst to the Afghan American who wrote it, an electrifying letter that made the crucial distinction between the Afghan people and the Taliban. So vivifying and unique was Ansary's missive, it quickly assumed the form of a global electronic chain letter, pushing this San Francisco-based children's book author and columnist for Encarta into the spotlight, where he appeared with the likes of Bill Moyers and Oprah. Now, writing once again with astonishing rapidity, clarity, and discernment, Ansary uses his compelling life story as a conduit for exactly the sort of insights into Afghanistan and the roots of Islamic terrorist groups that readers crave. As the son of an Afghan father and an American mother (the only American woman in Kabul when she arrived in 1945), Ansary embodies the East, the West, and the struggle between them. Born in 1948, he lived in Afghanistan until he was 16, and his radiant memories of that "lost world," a fluid and timeless realm of family (as in clan) and stories ("Instead of television, we had genealogy."), are redolent with a nurturing form of Islam, the opposite of extreme fundamentalist ideology. As Ansary conjures his boyhood, describes his student years in the U.S., chronicles his harrowing yet revelatory journey through various Islamic countries in 1980, and relives his painful break with his Islamic fundamentalist brother, he seeks to fathom and honor both facets of his bicultural heritage. Gracefully written and very powerful, Ansary's meditative memoir reaches deeper and illuminates more brightly than any news report or political analysis. Donna Seaman
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About this edition

• Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0786171553
• ISBN 13: 9780786171552
• Binding: MP3 CD
• Number of pages: 200