Book
Call me American : a memoir
Published 2018 by Alfred A. Knopf, New York
ISBN 9781524732196
Bib Id 965057
Copyright 2018
Edition First edition.
Description 310 pages ; 22 cm
More Details
Leader
cam a22 i 4500
LCCN
2017-043213
ISBN
9781524732196 hardcover $26.95
1524732192
9780525433026 (paperback) $16.00
Call #
B Iftin
Title
Call me American : a memoir
Edition
First edition.
Publication Information
2018 by Alfred A. Knopf, New York :
Copyright Date
©2018
Description
310 pages ; 22 cm
Note
"This is a Borzoi Book."
Contents
Under the neem tree -- The first bullets -- Trail of thorns -- City of women and children -- Arabic to English -- The one they call American -- Buufis -- Wedding vows -- Sin and punishment -- Trapped -- No number -- Messages from Mogadishu -- Little Mogadishu -- Long odds -- White rooms -- Respect -- Epilogue.
Summary
Abdi Nor Iftin first fell in love with America from afar. As a child, he learned English by listening to American pop artists like Michael Jackson and watching films starring action heroes like Arnold Schwarzenegger. When U.S. marines landed in Mogadishu to take on the warlords, Abdi cheered the arrival of these real Americans, who seemed as heroic as those of the movies. Sporting American clothes and dance moves, he became known around Mogadishu as Abdi American, but when the radical Islamist group al-Shabaab rose to power in 2006, it suddenly became dangerous to celebrate Western culture. Desperate to make a living, Abdi used his language skills to post secret dispatches to NPR and the Internet, which found an audience of worldwide listeners. But as life in Somalia grew more dangerous, Abdi was left with no choice but to flee to Kenya as a refugee. In an amazing stroke of luck, Abdi won entrance to the U.S. in the annual visa lottery, though his route to America was filled with twists and turns and a harrowing sequence of events that nearly stranded him in Nairobi. Now a proud resident of Maine and on the path to citizenship, Abdi Nor Iftin's dramatic, deeply stirring memoir is truly a story for our time: a vivid reminder of why western democracies still beckon to those looking to make a better life.
Genre/Form
Autobiographies
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