Nomad: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations - Softcover

Hirsi Ali, Ayaan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0732289777 ISBN 13: 9780732289775

Publisher: Collins, 2010

Synopsis

From the author of the international bestseller INFIDEL, a new and provocative book about women and Islam. 'This woman is a major hero of our times' RICHARD DAWKINS 'For me, the three most beautiful words in the emerging language of secular resistance to tyranny are Ayaan Hirsi Ali' - Christopher Hitchens Ayaan Hirsi Ali caused a worldwide sensation with her gutsy memoir INFIDEL. Now, in NOMAD, she tells of coming to America to build a new life, an ocean away from the death threats made against her by European Islamists, the strife she witnessed and the inner conflict she suffered. It is the story of her physical and emotional journey to freedom - her transition from a tribal mindset that restricts women's every thought and action to life as a free and equal citizen in an open society. Through stories of the challenges she has faced, she shows the difficulty of reconciling the contradictions of Islam with Western values. Hirsi Ali recounts the many turns her life took after breaking with her family and how she struggled to throw off restrictive superstitions and misconceptions that initially hobbled her ability to assimilate into Western society. She writes movingly of her reconciliation, on his deathbed, with her devout father, who had disowned her when she renounced Islam after 9/11, as well as with her mother and cousins in Somalia and in Europe. Nomad is a portrait of a family torn apart by the clash of civilizations, but it is also a touching, uplifting and often funny account of one woman's discovery of today's America. This is Hirsi Ali's intellectual coming of age, a memoir that conveys her philosophy as well as her experiences, and delivers an urgent message and mission - to inform the West of the extent of the threat from radical Islam, both from outside and from within our open societies. She calls on key institutions of the West - including universities, the feminist movement and the Christian churches - to enact specific, innovative remedies that would help other Muslim immigrants to overcome the challenges she experienced and to resist the fatal allure of fundamentalism and terrorism.

About this title

Product Description:

Nomad A vivid memoir telling the story of Hirsi Ali's life in America as she reconciles the contradictions of her Islamic past and her enlightenment beliefs Full description

Review:

'Both brave and intellectually honest...It is, in parts - especially early on - a brilliant book' --Sunday Times, May 23, 2010

'Zoe Strimpel is hooked by this dense, powerful meditation on religion, family and society' --City AM, May 13,2010

'a bold and passionately written book which should be essential reading for any politician [dealing with]...Islamism and immigration' --Evening Standard, May 13, 2010

'in this memoir she reiterates her strong preference for Western democracy and the urgent need for Englightenment values'
--The Times, May 22, 2010

'A story of rivalry, political intrigue and conspiracy . . . beguilingly written' --Guardian

'A rich and intricate story . . . full of colourful incident and detail, both historical and artistic . . . Jonathan Jones writes with engaging passion'
--RA Magazine

'Fearlessly uncompromising, it's no wonder [Hirsi Ali] has won plaudits from the likes of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens' --Shortlist

'A bold and passionately written book, essential for any politician dealing with the closely related problems of Islamism and immigration' --Scotsman

`Confrontational, stinging, unsparing: Hirsi Ali has positioned herself at a pole that courts odium and danger' --Financial Times

`For anyone who has ever felt a tinge of rose-tinted nostalgia for the traditional . . . a bracing, and on the whole healthy, cold shower'
--Economist

'To all those who argue that feminism is a dead cause, I recommend a few hours in this woman's company' --The Times, Summer reading choice

'[Hirsi Ali] combines a withering blast against liberals and multiculturalism alongside pen portraits of her own Muslim family'
--Daily Telegraph

About this edition

• Publisher: Collins
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0732289777
• ISBN 13: 9780732289775
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304