PREVIEW

Arab in America

With many countries in the west continuing to cast the Middle East as the enemy in an ongoing battle for the freedom of the world, it must be hard being an Arab in America. Toufic El Rassi, a lecturer and writer born in Beirut but who grew up in the US, charts some of the personal difficulties he’s faced in this enlightening graphic biography. Since the 9/11 attack, and the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, life as an American Arab is a daily struggle of identity. “Tell them you are Greek or something,” his father tells him after the Oklahoma City bombing, when the first wave of suspicion fell upon Muslim extremists. The book is a fascinating glance at America through the eyes of someone who grew up desperate to fit in, but finding plenty of people, including the government, keen to stand in his way.

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