Muslims in America: A Short History (Religion in American Life) [Paperback]

Edward E. Curtis IV (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0195367561 | ISBN-13: 978-0195367560

Muslims are neither new nor foreign to the United States. They have been a vital presence in North America since the 16th century. Muslims in America unearths their history, documenting the lives of African, Middle Eastern, South Asian, European, black, white, Hispanic and other Americans who have been followers of Islam.
The book begins with the tale of Job Ben Solomon, a 18th century African American Muslim slave, and goes on to chart the stories of sodbusters in North Dakota, African American converts to Islam in the 1920s, Muslim barkeepers in Toledo, the post-1965 wave of professional immigrants from Asia and Africa, and Muslim Americans after 9/11. The book reveals the richness of Sunni, Shi'a, Sufi and other forms of Islamic theology, ethics, and rituals in the United States by illustrating the way Islamic faith has been imagined and practiced in the everyday lives of individuals. Muslims in America recovers the place of Muslims in the larger American story, too. Showing how Muslim American men and women participated in each era of U.S. history, the book explores how they have both shaped and have been shaped by larger historical trends such as the abolition movement, Gilded Age immigration, the Great Migration of African Americans, urbanization, religious revivalism, the feminist movement, and the current war on terror. It also shows how, from the very beginning of American history, Muslim Americans have been at once a part of their local communities, their nation, and the worldwide community of Muslims.
The first single-author history of Muslims in America from colonial times to the present, this book fills a huge gap and provides invaluable background on one of the most poorly understood groups in the United States.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Curtis, a religious studies professor and authority on Islam in America, has authored a fine and succinct history that spans centuries. He hits all the major chronological points and historical details of Muslims living in North America, including notable tales of African slaves who maintained their religion despite great hardship. Curtis has literally combed through every record imaginable, including, for example, a 1939 Works Progress Administration–funded interview of Mrs. Mary Juma, a Syrian homesteader in North Dakota, in assembling this very readable history. Unmatched for its breadth of sources, this is also one of the few books in the field to cover both immigrant and indigenous (African-American) American Muslims. One of the strongest sections chronicles American Muslim condemnation of terrorism after 9/11, a condemnation largely unnoticed by the greater American community. Although geared toward non-Muslims, American Muslims would also learn a great deal from reading about their own history. Photographs, chronology, edited selections from chosen narratives, and a Further Reading Section provide useful jumping-off points for the reader, who will undoubtedly be intrigued by Curtis's compelling little read. (Oct.)
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Review

"An accessible, succinct, and informative survey . . . useful, enjoyable, and ultimately engaging. It will be of great value . .  . as a popular work [and] general resource."
--American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences


"[Curtis] has authored a fine and succinct history that spans centuries...Unmatched for its breadth of sources, this is also one of the few books in the field to cover both immigrant and indigenous (African-American) American Muslims...Photographs, chronology, edited selections from chosen narratives, and a Further Reading Section provide useful jumping-off points for the reader, who will undoubtedly be intrigued by Curtis's compelling little read." --Publishers Weekly

"Muslims in America provide[s] an interesting and diverse sampling
of Islamic theological reflection in the United States today." --Foreign Affairs

"This concise account of US Muslims is cohesive and approachable for readers unfamiliar with the subject, does not bog down in protracted explanations of beliefs, practices, and complex historical or political events, yet remains scholarly. The author's use of intimate profiles of individuals and families to illustrate common experiences of the larger group also draws readers in and increases the power of his descriptions...Highly recommended." --Choice Reviews

"Curtis achieves his objective...a model of clarity on the details of the Muslim experience in America." --Wilson Quarterly

"Curtis' book is a refreshing look at an important aspect of American history and culture." --Foreword Magazine

"This book offers a new perspective on the role Muslims have played in America and a deeper perspective on the nature of Islam." --Indianapolis Star

"Gives voice to a population in the United States that traditional history books tend to overlook or unknowingly misrepresent." --Middle East Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (October 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195367561
• ISBN-13: 978-0195367560
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #126,667 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A well-written short history to whet your appetite for the topic, April 23, 2010

By 

Samana Siddiqui (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Muslims in America: A Short History (Religion in American Life) (Paperback)

In the last 10 years, Muslims in the United States have largely been perceived as a foreign, "fifth column" community. For right-wing talk radio hosts, they are convenient cannon fodder. For the mainstream media and politicians, with some exceptions, they are largely the same, an inconvenient community to skirt around.

What is largely unknown is that Muslims have deep roots in the United States. Starting from West African slaves brought here through the trans-Atlantic slave trade in the 1700s, to modern-day figures like Malcolm X and W.D. Mohammed, Curtis offers readers a brief, but eye-opening introduction to the history of Muslims in America.

While this slim volume is meant to be, as its subtitle notes, a short history, it is a concise, well-written one. The book is factual, well-researched and presents an inside look at this religious community. By weaving facts with real stories of American Muslims of the past and present, Curtis successfully retains the reader's interest until the end.

He also discusses how other movements have influenced the American Muslim community, ranging from the Ahmadiyya to the Druze and the Nation of Islam.

However, this book should primarily be used as a starting point to learn more about American Muslims. It is not exhaustive or comprehensive. But it whets a reader's appetite enough to want to know more.

Muslims in America: A Short History should be required reading for any "Islam 101" type class in high school or college. It should be on the bookshelf of every library in the United States and on the desk of every AM radio talk show host.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An accessible and succinct history to a misunderstood yet important American minority..., February 10, 2010

By 

F. A. Chishty "Wayfarer" (Md, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Muslims in America: A Short History (Religion in American Life) (Paperback)

The author of this book, Edward E. Curtis IV, Millennium Chair of the Liberal Arts and Professor of Religious Studies and American Studies at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), has dedicated his recent academic study and research to Muslim Americans; this is substantiated by his editing of the Columbia Sourcebook of Muslims in the United States (Columbia University Press, 2009), the Encyclopedia of Muslim-Americans in History (Facts on File, 2010), his studies in African-Americans and religion, and the current book under review. To compose a short history of any topic entails on the part of the author the challenging task of selection and at times to generalize, but Curtis appears to grapple with both of these challenges admirably; he includes all the significant personalities and particular issues faced by Muslim Americans at various points in history with little to no editorializing, unless it is to provide context. Curtis's Muslim in America: A Short History (Oxford University Press, 2009) provides a brief synopsis of an important minority of Americans with deep historical ties to their land since the 16th century up and through the tragic events of 9/11.

Muslim Americans, whether as explorers as Estevanico; slaves who transcribed the Koran by heart like Job Ben Solomon; converts, like Alexander Russell Webb, a U.S. Consulate to the Philippines near the end of the 19th century; immigrants, like sodbusters Mary and Hassin Juma that raised their family in North Dakota at the turn of the 20th century; African American social reformers, like Malcom X; or academics that are revolutionizing the horizon of their discipline like Amina Wadud, all indicate that Muslims have been and are a vital thread to America's heritage, and consequently dispels any notion that Muslims are a recent addition to the landscape of America.
Curtis's book is well organized into five chapters covering both indigenous and immigrant Muslim Americans, including pictures of Muslim Americans through the centuries, and with primary source selections from various points in history that provide intriguing insights in the words of Muslim Americans themselves. The book ends with a chronology of Muslim Americans--events and personalities that were fleshed-out in the text--a comprehensive listing of references for further readings, and an index. For non-Muslim Americans and Muslim Americans this accessible history portrays Muslims in a sympathetic light as a collective of peoples that have sought at various times and in various ways better understanding and respect in their particular American context. Hence, Curtis includes and mentions the narratives of a spectrum of Muslim American communities from the Sunni, Sufi, Shi'i, Ismaili, Ahmadiyya, Nation of Islam, and Moorish Science Temple members as perspectives within the diaspora of Islam in America and thereby contradicting any assertion that Islam is monolithic.

Curtis mentions in his preface that he desires to portray a "sobering and well rounded" view of Muslim Americans--this is in contrast to the Islamophobic works that litter the bookshelves--and though he achieves this objective in content and tone, he seems to side-step the Salafi/Wahhabi perspective which despite not considered mainstream has still played an important role in American Islam in the past decades with the rise of Political Islam. Curtis's overview also ignores the efforts of Mark Hanson's grassroots efforts to revitalize and engage a traditional Islamic discourse with contemporary American society by establishing a higher learning institution in the United States. Aside from these two oversights, Curtis's book is a welcome addition and should probably be considered the first reference for those interested in an introduction to the diverse and historically rooted community of Muslim Americans. In a succinct and accessible narrative Curtis's Muslims in America will aid in assuaging the deplorable misunderstanding surrounding Islam, especially as it pertains to Muslim Americans, and cause Muslim Americans, who largely do not know the history of Islam in America, to reflect carefully on their identity as being Muslim and American, and assist in overcoming any apparent paradoxes between the two.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lives up to its title, October 7, 2011

By 

M. Shaikh (Orange County, CA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Muslims in America: A Short History (Religion in American Life) (Paperback)

A well-written concise introduction to the topic. Curtis does a good job of providing enough context to appreciate the significance of developments. Includes a useful timeline of key events. Could be useful for book clubs and short courses.