Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #133087 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Any carping about this being an instant book should be quelled when readers actually encounter Ansary's considered prose prose he himself contrasts to the e-mailed commentary he fired off on September 12 that found its way to millions of readers around the world (including FSG editorial). The e-mail, printed here in an appendix, included such comments as "When you think `Taliban,' think `Nazis.' When you think `Bin Laden,' think `Hitler.' And when you think `the people of Afghanistan,' think `the Jews in the concentration camps.' " Ansary, the son of a Pashtun Afghan father and Finnish-American mother, lived as a Muslim outside of Kabul until the early '60s, when he left on scholarship to attend an American high school, eventually going on to college and becoming an educational writer ("if you have children, they have probably read or used some product I have edited or written") with a family of his own in San Francisco. This book chronicles, with calm insight and honesty, Ansary's feelings at all points: his childhood spent within his "clan" ("our group self was just as real as our individual selves, perhaps more so"), a narrative of his often fascinating 1980 trip ("Looking for Islam") throughout the Muslim world that makes up the bulk of the book, and dissections of the differing paths taken by his sister, brother and himself. While Ansary's political insights can be detached or perhaps purposefully aloof his descriptions of having lived in and identified alternately with the West and the Islamic world are utterly compelling.

From Library Journal
Some books are timely by accident, some through a prescience that conveys mystique upon their authors; either makes a writer's reputation. This book is a consequence of specific events last September, intended and only understandable within that recent, collective, and perhaps forever unfixable knowledge. Stripped of that context, this would be an insightful but somewhat plodding autobiography. Ansary, who was raised in pre-Russian-client Afghanistan, the son of an exemplar of that nation's civil elite and of an American his father met while studying abroad, moved to the United States in time to live out college and urban cool in the Sixties and Seventies. But this Afghan American, writing in response to one awful day and in fact extending to book-length some of the notions he posited in a widely read e-mail on September 12, 2001, tells truths about dislocation, heritage, home, family, and religion that both affirm life and profoundly sadden. Ansary's account of how his brother chose to stay "east of New York," of his travels through Muslim communities at the time of the Iranian hostage crisis, and of his personal collision with conspiracy theory are particularly unsettling and worth any reader's time. Recommended for high school, public, and academic libraries of all stripes. Scott H. Silverman, Bryn Mawr Coll. Lib., PA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

West of Kabul, East of New York
A fine, engaging book that offers insights into Afghanistan and its people and the current world condition. Along with The Kite Runner, the people of Afghanistan come to life for many of us who have no, or little, prior knowledge of this part of the world. On a larger scale, the book is touching and true about the human condition anywhere. Well written, often amusing, this is a warm memoir.

West of Kabul, East of New York: An Afghan American Story is a good read.
A friend who is working in Kabul suggested that I read this book. Another friend who saw that I was reading it told me that the author is the cousin of a colleague! It's a small world. The book is a good read and I would suggest that anyone who is interested in culture and learning about Afghan Americans read it. It's a quick read and worth the time.

fast moving tale of afghanistan then and now
this was one of the first books i read on afghanistan. come to find out quotes from this book are all over the web. it is apparently a well known work. the author does a superb job of explaining his life and past living in afghanistan prior to the state the country is in now. with well defined images of the area, people, and culture, the authors tale will keep you reading without stopping. there are also great clarifications of terms and language used that is not familiar to those who are not privy to the language of aghanistan. the travels the author takes as a grown adult also give great insight into other areas, such as algeria, and has tales of interesting interaction with those who follow varying degrees of islam. a great read even if your not heavily into the afghan cause or culture.