When We Were Arabs
When We Were Arabs

Author: Massoud Hayoun

Publisher: The New Press

Published: 2019-06-25

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13: 1620974584

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WINNER OF THE ARAB AMERICAN BOOK AWARD • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR The stunning debut of a brilliant nonfiction writer whose vivid account of his grandparents' lives in Egypt, Tunisia, Palestine, and Los Angeles reclaims his family's Jewish Arab identity There was a time when being an "Arab" didn't mean you were necessarily Muslim. It was a time when Oscar Hayoun, a Jewish Arab, strode along the Nile in a fashionable suit, long before he and his father arrived at the port of Haifa to join the Zionist state only to find themselves hosed down with DDT and then left unemployed on the margins of society. In that time, Arabness was a mark of cosmopolitanism, of intellectualism. Today, in the age of the Likud and ISIS, Oscar's son, the Jewish Arab journalist Massoud Hayoun whom Oscar raised in Los Angeles, finds his voice by telling his family's story. To reclaim a worldly, nuanced Arab identity is, for Hayoun, part of the larger project to recall a time before ethnic identity was mangled for political ends. It is also a journey deep into a lost age of sophisticated innocence in the Arab world; an age that is now nearly lost. When We Were Arabs showcases the gorgeous prose of the Eppy Award–winning writer Massoud Hayoun, bringing the worlds of his grandparents alive, vividly shattering our contemporary understanding of what makes an Arab, what makes a Jew, and how we draw the lines over which we do battle.

When We Were Arabs
When We Were Arabs

Author: Massoud Hayoun

Publisher:

Published: 2025-04-22

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781620979525

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The stunning debut of a brilliant nonfiction writer whose vivid account of his grandparents' lives in Egypt, Tunisia, Palestine, and Los Angeles reclaims his family's Jewish Arab identity Winner of the 2020 Arab American Book Award for nonfiction and one of NPR's best books of 2019, When We Were Arabs is a gorgeous family memoir and "a powerful exploration of Arab Jewish identity" (The New Arab) that brings the world of Jewish Arab writer and artist Massoud Hayoun's parents and grandparents alive, vividly shattering our contemporary understanding of what makes an Arab and what makes a Jew. There was a time when being an "Arab" didn't mean you were necessarily Muslim. It was a time when Oscar Hayoun, a Jewish Arab, strode along the Nile in a fashionable suit, and Arabness was a mark of cosmopolitanism, of intellectualism. That was before he and his father arrived at the port of Haifa to join the Zionist state only to find themselves hosed down with DDT and left unemployed on the margins of society. In this moving book, Oscar's son, Massoud, raised in Los Angeles, finds his own voice by telling his family's story. Named one of the most inspiring Arab writers of 2020, Hayoun seeks to reclaim a worldly, nuanced Arab identity as part of the larger project to recall a time before ethnic identity was mangled for political ends. "An intriguing read for anyone interested in furthering their understanding of complex identities and mixed cultural heritage" (Jewish News), When We Were Arabs is also a journey deep into a lost age of sophisticated innocence in the Arab world, an age that is now nearly lost.

The New Arabs
The New Arabs

Author: Juan Cole

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2014-07

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 1451690398

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"For three decades, Cole has sought to put the relationship of the West and the Muslim world in historical context. In The New Arabs he outlines the history that led to the dramatic changes in the region, and explores how a new generation of men and women are using innovative notions of personal rights to challenge the authoritarianism, corruption, and stagnation that had afflicted their societies."--Provided by publisher.

Reel Bad Arabs
Reel Bad Arabs

Author: Jack G. Shaheen

Publisher: Interlink Publishing

Published: 2012-12-31

Total Pages: 637

ISBN-13: 1623710065

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A groundbreaking book that dissects a slanderous history dating from cinema’s earliest days to contemporary Hollywood blockbusters that feature machine-gun wielding and bomb-blowing "evil" Arabs Award-winning film authority Jack G. Shaheen, noting that only Native Americans have been more relentlessly smeared on the silver screen, painstakingly makes his case that "Arab" has remained Hollywood’s shameless shorthand for "bad guy," long after the movie industry has shifted its portrayal of other minority groups. In this comprehensive study of over one thousand films, arranged alphabetically in such chapters as "Villains," "Sheikhs," "Cameos," and "Cliffhangers," Shaheen documents the tendency to portray Muslim Arabs as Public Enemy #1—brutal, heartless, uncivilized Others bent on terrorizing civilized Westerners. Shaheen examines how and why such a stereotype has grown and spread in the film industry and what may be done to change Hollywood’s defamation of Arabs.

Arabs
Arabs

Author: Tim Mackintosh-Smith

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2019-04-30

Total Pages: 681

ISBN-13: 0300180284

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A riveting, comprehensive history of the Arab peoples and tribes that explores the role of language as a cultural touchstone This kaleidoscopic book covers almost 3,000 years of Arab history and shines a light on the footloose Arab peoples and tribes who conquered lands and disseminated their language and culture over vast distances. Tracing this process to the origins of the Arabic language, rather than the advent of Islam, Tim Mackintosh-Smith begins his narrative more than a thousand years before Muhammad and focuses on how Arabic, both spoken and written, has functioned as a vital source of shared cultural identity over the millennia. Mackintosh-Smith reveals how linguistic developments--from pre-Islamic poetry to the growth of script, Muhammad's use of writing, and the later problems of printing Arabic--have helped and hindered the progress of Arab history, and investigates how, even in today's politically fractured post-Arab Spring environment, Arabic itself is still a source of unity and disunity.

When All Else Fails
When All Else Fails

Author: Rayyan Al-Shawaf

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2022-12-06

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 1623710928

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A darkly humorous saga set in post-9/11 America and the Middle East When All Else Fails begins on September 12th, 2001. It is the story of Hunayn, a luckless and lovelorn Iraqi college student living in Orlando, Florida, after having graduated from high school in Beirut. Hunayn’s life is upended by 9/11—but not immediately, and not in the way that he, fearful in the aftermath of the attacks, initially expects. As America settles into its post-9/11, open-ended “Septemberland” phase (vigilant but also overly suspicious and even paranoid), many Arab and Muslim Americans are made to feel it’s no longer their home. With Hunayn, who muddles through a series of surreal episodes in Orlando and nearby Indiantown, the situation proves almost the opposite: Septemberland—so many of whose citizens think they have Hunayn figured out just because of his name or origins—comes to remind him of his most recent unhappy home, Lebanon, which he assumed he’d left behind. Now, having had his fill of disconcerting experiences, Hunayn returns to Beirut. At least he knows how to navigate life back there—or so he thinks. It turns out that Lebanon is about to undergo political upheaval of its own: a former prime minister opposed to neighboring Syria’s control of the country is assassinated; subsequent popular protests compel the Syrian regime to withdraw its army; a spate of mysterious bombings terrorizes everyone; and Israel, another neighbor, launches a war on Lebanon in retaliation for an attack by a Lebanese militant group. Hunayn finds himself aswirl in the maelstrom. And all the while, he watches from afar as Iraq, his fabled homeland and the owner of his heart, unravels in the wake of the US-led invasion.

The Arab Winter
The Arab Winter

Author: Noah Feldman

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2021-08-03

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 0691227934

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The Arab Spring promised to end dictatorship and bring self-government to people across the Middle East. Yet everywhere except Tunisia it led to either renewed dictatorship, civil war, extremist terror, or all three. In The Arab Winter, Noah Feldman argues that the Arab Spring was nevertheless not an unmitigated failure, much less an inevitable one. Rather, it was a noble, tragic series of events in which, for the first time in recent Middle Eastern history, Arabic-speaking peoples took free, collective political action as they sought to achieve self-determination.

Arab in America
Arab in America

Author: Toufic El Rassi

Publisher: Last Gasp

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 9780867196733

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Through his own life story, from childhood through is life as an adult, El Rassi illustrates the prejudices and discrimination Arabs and Muslims experience daily in American society. He contends with ignorant teachers, racist neighbours, bullying classmates and a growing sense of alienation. He also examines the roles that media and popular culture play and with examples from film and news media, he shows how difficult it is to have an Arab identity in a society saturated with anti-Arab messages.

Arab Worlds Beyond the Middle East and North Africa
Arab Worlds Beyond the Middle East and North Africa

Author: Mariam F. Alkazemi

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2021-06-17

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 1793617678

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Just like people around the world have done for generations, Arab people from the Middle East and North African (MENA) region have immigrated to various nations around the world. A number of ‘push’ factors account for why groups have left their homeland and ‘pulled’ to another nation to settle. The history and patterns of Arab migration out of the MENA illustrates the wide array of reasons for these patterns, primarily illustrating that mass emigration and settlement are highly linked to a number of factors, including social, political, economic, familial climates of each nation-state and its policies. If it is one takeaway that this edited volume brings to light, it is that the Arab MENA does not only include a diverse population within each nation-state it also illustrates the ways in which their settlement in new nations have contributed to their own identity development patterns, their communities, and that of their new nation-state. This book celebrates the achievements and acknowledges the challenges of the new communities that Arabs have built around the world. It shows examples of societies that have embraced the Arab diaspora as well as examples of sidelining these communities. These examples come from a number of subject areas, from music to international affairs. The examples are both contemporary and historical, authored by individuals with a diverse set of disciplinary lenses and professional training. This book is meant to fill a gap in the literature as it expands on the understanding of Arab communities to inform and inspire a more nuanced, inclusive approach to the study of the Arab diaspora. It does so by revealing untold stories that challenge stereotypes to push for more inclusive media representation of Arab identity and its development in various regions of the world.