A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb [Paperback]

Amitava Kumar (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2010

Part reportage and part protest, A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb is an inquiry into the cultural logic and global repercussions of the war on terror. At its center are two men convicted in U.S. courts on terrorism-related charges: Hemant Lakhani, a seventy-year-old tried for attempting to sell a fake missile to an FBI informant, and Shahawar Matin Siraj, baited by the New York Police Department into a conspiracy to bomb a subway. Lakhani and Siraj were caught through questionable sting operations involving paid informants; both men received lengthy jail sentences. Their convictions were celebrated as major victories in the war on terror. In Amitava Kumar’s riveting account of their cases, Lakhani and Siraj emerge as epic bunglers, and the U.S. government as the creator of terror suspects to prosecute. Kumar analyzed the trial transcripts and media coverage, and he interviewed Lakhani, Siraj, their families, and their lawyers. Juxtaposing such stories of entrapment in the United States with narratives from India, another site of multiple terror attacks and state crackdowns, Kumar explores the harrowing experiences of ordinary people entangled in the war on terror. He also considers the fierce critiques of post-9/11 surveillance and security regimes by soldiers and torture victims, as well as artists and writers, including Coco Fusco, Paul Shambroom, and Arundhati Roy.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Kumar's searching and humane account of the global consequences of the U.S. war on terror gets behind the rhetoric and state public relations campaigns in a brisk but thoughtful narrative. Kumar covers intellectual and artistic responses to American domestic and foreign security policies, including the work of conceptual artist Hasan Elahi, who after being randomly interrogated by the FBI after 9/11, has taken to documenting and uploading to his Web site every move he makes. In his own reportage, Kumar (Husband of a Fanatic) focuses on two legal cases, in whose details, including his own interviews with the defendants, he astutely deconstructs the logic of what he sees as a burgeoning police state and the global order (or disorder) it encourages. The first is that of Hemant Lakhani, a boastful 70-year-old smalltime London clothier arrested in a sting operation delivering a sample shoulder-fired missile to an FBI informant. The other concerns Shahawar Matin Siraj, drawn into a bomb plot by undercover New York police. An arresting and heartrending work of public protest and valuable social analysis, this work contributes forcefully to a subtle, human-scaled accounting of 21st-century geopolitics. (Aug.)
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Review

“Moving fluidly between his adopted U.S. home and his birthplace of India – another country altered by concerns over terrorism – Kumar carefully exposes what he sees as the senseless abuse of power justified by the so-called ‘war on terror.’” - Terry Hong, Bloomsbury Review

“[A] perceptive and soulful . . . meditation on the global war on terror and its cultural and human repercussions. . . . A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb carries in the crook of its own arm Mr. Kumar’s plaintive appeal. If we’re to bridge the perilous divide that separates us from those poor and unnamed people who resent us, we first need to see them, to look into their eyes. We need, Mr. Kumar writes, 'to acknowledge that they exist.' This angry and artful book is a first step." - Dwight Garner, New York Times

“More than a piece of reportage, A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb illuminates the dangers to civil liberties from extraordinary governmental powers and torture’s questionable effectiveness. . . . Whatever one’s views on 9/11 and its accompanying legal changes, the use of torture, or the war on terror, A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb is a worthwhile read. Kumar’s perspective is one not often seen in American writings on similar subjects. That alone would recommend the book; the high quality of the writing should secure its place on any library shelf.” - J. G. Stinson, ForeWord

“After you read [A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb], you will never look at the global war on terror in the same way again. You will, also, finally know how to look at the war on terror, especially as it is fought here. . . . [S]tunningly researched, brilliantly thoughtful, boldly imagined and courageously executed. I can't think of a more urgent, important and necessary book for us this year. You should rush to read it.” - Pradeep Sebastian, The Hindu (review of the Indian edition)

“Full of sublime narratives and subtle descriptions, it is a thoroughly fantastic book. The best thing about Kumar's writing is that seldom does he allow his personal prejudices to creep into the text. He acts more like a cameraman of a documentary film showing you a plethora of images. He also knows what to focus on, and when to zoom in or out. Then he leaves you free to reach your own conclusions. Like his earlier book Husband of a Fanatic, it is a must buy. And, of course, a must read too.” - Abdullah Khan, Star Weekend (review of the Indian edition)

“[A]n essential book for our times.” - Nilanjana S. Roy, Business Standard

“Foreigner is part contemporary history, part investigative journalism, part political treatise, part memoir – and an absolute must-read. . . . Kumar is an excellent storyteller. He’s also immensely convincing. Drawing on his vast, voracious knowledge of literature, film, television, and breaking headlines, Kumar makes a case that post-9/11 fear has created a not-so-brave new world of bullies and fools.” - Terry Hong, Christian Science Monitor

“Amitava Kumar has written a unique book. It is ultimately a book about neoliberalism, about the public interest defined as militarism rather than as well-being. It is a book about the imagination reduced to suspicion and fear rather than hope and liberty. It is a book that swells from India to Indiana, depicting the global ecology of antiterrorism.”—Vijay Prashad, author of The Darker Nations. A People's History of the Third World

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Duke University Press Books (July 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822345781
• ISBN-13: 978-0822345787
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.7 x 8.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #474,620 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An indispensible report on the war on terror August 7, 2010

By lapata

Format:Paperback

Since 9/11/01, the War on Terror has served up no major players in the attacks that occurred in the US on that day. Instead, our intelligence gathering systems have produced a string of inadept wannabes, their files released to the press as major coups in the global war. Within days of each arrest, we begin to learn that each of these characters was not the Big Bad that we were originally given to understand.

Amitava Kumar's new book zeroes in on some of these specimens of the Global War, and in fine-grained detail examines their deeds, their cases and their role in this ongoing drama. What we learn is depressing-- both for the punishments (and often torture) meted out on individuals whose crimes usually amount to talking big to the wrong people-- and for the mounting evidence that this war is in no way closer to achieving its initial goals than it was on September 12th, 2001.

Kumar's discussion is balanced (he is not always sympathetic to the subjects of his narration) and written in an engaging and accessible style. As in his previous books, Kumar mixes different narrative styles, especially reportage and memoir, and quotes at length from portions of the court documents associated with the various cases.

For anyone wishing to understand the War on Terror in greater detail than what is generally available in the press, this book is essential reading.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Humane Look at the Inhumanity and Theatre of War April 15, 2011

By AZNmovieFan

Format:Paperback

Many post-9/11 and "War on Terror" books have attempted to explain the zeitgeist of the world, but most have been superficial, like Amis's and Updike's novels, or polarizing.

Amitava Kumar's book is a brilliant and very accessible transnational study of the victims on both sides of manufactured wars. Connecting imperialism, colonization, insurgency, and growing fascism around the world, Kumar carves out a book that is a deeply personal study of innocent strangers swept up and ensnared in globalized net of entrapment, racism, blind rage, and hatred. Kumar is never a distant observer; instead, he meets with almost everyone he talks about, covering events related to the "war on terror" from the U.S. to India to Kashmir. This is a remarkable book.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A nuanced and complex book August 9, 2010

By sepoy

Format:Paperback

Amitava Kumar's book takes the pulse of American response to 9/11 at home. His writing is at times lyrical, at times reportage but always precise, focused. He pays as much attention to himself as a subject and object as he does to the people and circumstances he is describing. In alternate chapters, he discusses the prosecution (via sting operations) of two domestic terrorism cases, the response of Indian army to Kashmir, the attempts by artists and thinkers to contextualize the domestic sphere of the global War on Terror. This is a rich, wonderfully written book, deserving of a sustained, deep reading - perhaps one of the best non-fiction treatment of the post 9/11 apparatchik.