Book Reviews
Book Reviews
Our immigrant nation is a big tent for everyone
February 9th, 20220 By Joseph Richard Preville On August 4, 1963, The New York Times Magazine published President Kennedy’s majestic essay, “A Nation of Immigrants.” Rejecting geographically narrow and restrictive immigration quotas based on national origin for the U.S., Kennedy urged reform and the adoption of a new immigration policy that would...
Iraqi American author hopes to debunk stereotypes about arranged marriage
March 25th, 20190 SAN DIEGO, CA — For Huda Al-Marashi, an Iraqi American and Muslim author, wife and mother, the process of writing her memoir, “First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story”, took almost 10 years to finish. The book, which follows her story about her relationship with her husband of 22 years, was released last...
‘Kite Runner’ author pens tribute to refugees who die fleeing war
September 5th, 20180 LONDON — “Kite Runner” author Khaled Hosseini urged world leaders to “act with compassion” towards refugees as he launched his new book inspired by a Syrian boy who drowned in the Mediterranean trying to reach Greece. Hosseini said on Wednesday there was a “deeply concerning” shift in attitudes in Europe - where several...
Arab American doctor who uncovered Flint Water Crisis writes memoir
July 6th, 20180 FLINT — Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, known as the primary whistleblower in the Flint water crisis, documented her personal experience of seeking proof of lead poisoning in Flint’s children in her book “What the Eyes Don’t See.” The book not only describes her struggle bringing the Flint Water Crisis to the public, but includes...
Young Arab American on track to becoming a professional author
May 25th, 20180 By Sarah Kominek DEARBORN - Maya Audi, a 15-year-old sophomore at Dearborn High School, has her eyes set on becoming an author. In April 2016, Audi and her mother entered her story “The Raven Gem” in the National Endowment for the Arts’ (NEA) Big Read Dearborn, hosted by the Dearborn Public Library. In partnership with...
Palestinian American poet rises in the ranks on Amazon while still in high school
January 5th, 20180 DALLAS, TEXAS — Waseem Nabulsi, an 18-year-old senior at St. Mark's School of Texas, a private, nonsectarian college-preparatory boys' day school for students in grades 1 through 12, became a published poet and artist this past fall with the release of "Under My Grandmother's Olive Tree: Poems and Artwork about being...
New Syrian cookbook features century-old traditional recipes
March 29th, 20130 A new cookbook titled, Sitto's Kitchen: A Treasury of Syrian Family Recipes Taught from Mother to Daughter for Over 100 Years features century old Syrian recipes. It includes original recipes from the author's grandmother along with contemporary cooking tips and memories associated with each dish. Readers are invited to learn the...
Book chronicles challenges of Muslim Americans in post 9/11 era
February 22nd, 20130 The book, In Search of a Base by Jamal Fawaz, M.D. chronicles the challenges facing Muslim Americans in the years following 9/11. Personal and professional views on issues that affect the lives of Muslim immigrants are offered. The book features a clear overview of the obstucles Muslims have faced after emigrating to the U.S. over the...
The Islamophobia Industry
December 8th, 20120 By Joseph Richard Preville Islamophobia is a real problem that needs to be considered in the same light as racism, homophobia and anti-Semitism, says Nathan Lean, the author of ‘The Islamophobia Industry: How the Right Manufactures Fear of Muslims’What is Islamophobia? Who is promoting it? And, how is it a poisonous force in...
A refugee from a refugee camp
December 4th, 20100 Children of Catastrophe: Journey from a Palestinian Refugee Camp to America Written by Jamal Kanj Paperback: 192 pages, Garnet Publishing; 1st edition (October 15, 2010)What does it mean to be a refugee? For many Palestinians, this is a central part of their identity. Most Palestinians have experienced a flight for refuge at some...FILM: Where can we look for peace?
EthnoGraphic Media (EGM) appears to have released its new documentary right on cue. Now that the resurrected Israeli/Palestinian peace talks have once again become front-page news, the film Little Town of Bethlehem provides fresh insight presented in a compelling narrative. The film delivers a whisper of hope amidst coverage that often...Why do they hate us?
Faith Misplaced: The Broken Promise of U.S.-Arab Relations 1820-2003. Ussama Makdisi PublicAffairs, June 22, 2010."Why do they hate us?" It is probably the most asked question regarding the Arab world since 9/11. Many have ventured to ask and answer this question in the years before and after 9/11, and such works became popular with...New book assembles eyewitness accounts from Mavi Marmara
NEW YORK — A growing number of activists is contradicting the claims of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) regarding the Gaza Freedom Flotilla debacle in May, including a large faction of both Israeli and U.S. Jews. This faction was evidenced by the distinguished array of Jewish scholars, journalists and professionals who contributed...“The Future of Islam”
Some books have perfect timing. This is one of them. According to a recent Gallup World Religion Survey, a majority of Americans have little or no knowledge about Islam. Also, the study revealed a disturbing American bias against Muslims. The contagious disease of Islamophobia can be cured, and a strong antidote may be found in John L....Zionism’s destabilizing force: “Israeli Exceptionalism” reviewed
In his new book "Israeli Exceptionalism: The Destabilizing Logic of Zionism," M. Shahid Alam successfully argues that the moral force behind the Zionist movement is a sense of Jewish, and consequently Israeli, exceptionalism. This claim of exceptionalism underpins what he calls the "destabilizing logic of Zionism." According to Alam,......
Groundbreaking study examines Arab Americans
December 24th, 20090 This is an excerpt from the newly published book,"Citizenship and Crisis: Arab Detroit After 9/11," by the Detroit Arab American Study Research Team, of the University of Michigan. The team conducted in-depth interviews with a scientific sample of 1,016 Arab Americans and Chaldeans from southeast Michigan in 2003. Ron Stockton is a...A struggle for the soul of Saudi Arabia
"Robert Lacey, Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for the Soul of Saudi Arabia" (Viking, 2009) Robert Lacey is one of the most distinguished writers of our time. The author of twenty books, Lacey is noted for his astute biographies of Queen Elizabeth II, Henry Ford and Princess Grace of...
Book casts new light on Palestine’s ethnic cleansing
October 7th, 20090 A Palestinian boy flashes a victory sign as he holds a stone during a protest near the Nahal Oz crossing between Israel and the northern Gaza Strip September 16, 2009. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem In recent years, a growing number of accounts of the 1948 war have corrected and exposed the founding myths of Israel, including claims...Book review: Must-read about the nuclear mess
Stephanie Cooke's "In Mortal Hands"In an era when corporate media, corporate politicians and corporate military men gang up together and denounce and threaten other countries because of their nuclear related activities, they should spend much of that rhetorical energy cross-examining themselves in a mirror. North Korea's latest......
Good place to start learning about Iran
Robert Baer's "The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower" Iran is obviously a key player in the Middle East. The many references within other texts dealing with other aspects of the Middle East and the several texts dealing specifically with Iran highlight its significance. Part of that significance is that Iran...Disaster of the free market
Not many economists make much clarity these days, and the general run of the mill economists who populate the majority of political and business positions seem to be mired in their own illusions and myths about what the economy actually is. James Galbraith stands out in contrast to that group and is able to see through the myths of the......
Imperial domination for resources
March 28th, 20090 "American Raj: Liberation or Domination? – Resolving the Conflict Between the West and the Muslim World" Eric S. Margolis Key Porter Books, Toronto, 2008. In a wide-ranging and thorough overview of essentially the Middle East, but also the rest of the Muslim world, Eric Margolis' recent work "American Raj" should become a...Novella serves as historical record of ‘Naqba’
Khirbet Khizeh, by S. Yizhar, Ibis Editions, 1949,translated from Hebrew by Nicholas de Lange and Yaacob Dweck. While Israel, as a collective entity, continues to wander the corridors of the retirement home of history as an old man with Alzheimer's, there are those who forever remain young and alert. One of those was S. Yizhar,......