My War at Home [Paperback]

Masuda Sultan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 28, 2006

Born in Kandahar in 1978, Sultan fled to the United States at age five with her family. Raised in Brooklyn and Flushing, Queens, Sultan saw her life change when she was married by arrangement at the young age of seventeen to a virtual stranger fourteen years her senior -- a marriage she struggled to maintain and then hastily fought, eventually (after three years) being granted a divorce. This very divorce would become one of the first in her close-knit Afgan community, where the subject is considered rare and taboo.

Sultan went on to graduate from college summa cum laude with a degree in economics, and in July 2001, she returned to Kandahar, to explore her family roots and find herself. There she met her relatives and surveyed the conservative provincial town where she was born. on return visit to afganistan, she discovered the tragic death of her relatives at the hands of American troops and began to seek answers.

My War at Home is her memoir of self-discovery, family tradition, and life as a Muslim and feminist with political ideals. It speaks to the younger generation of Muslims in America as they struggle to resolve the ever-present inner conflict about what it means to be an American and a Muslim, while also examining the Muslim-American identity at both personal and political levels.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An arranged marriage at 16 to a man she has never spoken to ignites Afghan American Sultan's search for her place in the two cultures she considers her own. The 27-year-old who made the documentary From Ground Zero to Ground Zero with Jon Alpert describes in this accessible memoir how she became an advocate for women's rights in Afghanistan: after divorcing her husband and witnessing 9/11, Sultan's "soul-searching" becomes a mission to promote understanding between Afghans and Americans. While the book begins with the rich details of her traditional wedding, Sultan is not in her element here, tending to give her characters little depth. The author, who supported action against the Taliban, hits her stride when she moves from the personal to the political, describing, for example, organizing a conference on women and the Afghan constitution, or meeting an Afghan farmer whose wife and all but one of his children were killed in a U.S. attack. "Would this boy grow up to be America's enemy?" Sultan wonders; if al Qaeda members were hiding in Texas, would "AC-130 gunships, spewing bullets from a rotating cannon" be used? Though this politically driven book may age quickly, it is a time capsule that will appeal to a wide audience.
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Review

". . . An honest and moving memoir. . . Sultan's rise from a helpless bride in an arranged marriage to a strong and articulate voice for Afghan women's rights is truly remarkable. She is an important addition to the growing community of Muslims who work to bridge gaps and address stereotypes." -- Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner

"In a time when globalization is bringing people together, but cultural and religious divisions seem starker than ever, My War at Home should be required reading. This engaging memoir reveals the power of the human spirit in bridging even the widest divides." -- Swanee Hunt, former U.S. ambassador to Austria and current director of Harvard University's Women and Public Policy Program

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Washington Square Press; Original edition (February 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743480473
• ISBN-13: 978-0743480475
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #438,457 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #71 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Islam > Women in Islam

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very insightful, compelling read, March 5, 2006

By 

Michael J. McCready "Mike McCready" (Barcelona, Spain) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My War at Home (Paperback)

If you've ever seen an American Muslim woman walking down the streets of New York or anywhere else in the US and wondered about the many Americas in which we live, this book is for you. How do these people live and think in a USA that is as much theirs as it is ours? My direct experiences of my own country couldn't be more different than Masuda's. I grew up in the mid-west and most of my friends were white mid-westerners. Growing up, I knew on an intellectual level that there are a lot of different ethnicities that make up our country but every time I passed a Hassidic Jew, an American Hindu wearing a turban or an American Muslim woman covering her hair I wondered what their lives were like and how they experienced America. This book offers amazing insight into how this specific minority lives and thinks. What's more, upon meeting Masuda (disclaimer - I have) you could also come to the conclusion that no one is more quintessentially American. She seems to completely bridge the gap and can relate to me as much as I imagine her being able to relate to a shop keeper in Kabul.

The more people like her that we have helping us understand our interlocutors in the Middle East the better off America will be. Masuda shows us that we're all human and that understanding the perspective of the other side is key to reaching any long-lasting mutually beneficial relationship with their countries of origin.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Page-Turner!!, March 14, 2006

By 

Anita Samuelson (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My War at Home (Paperback)

Masuda's story is incredible. I couldn't put it down and have already recommended it to dozens of people. Masuda for President!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Uniquely American and Americanly Unique....", July 11, 2006

By 

Carah Hunt (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My War at Home (Paperback)

The story of an immigrant seeking the American dream and also the story of an American striving to meld her conservative heritage with Western freedom, Ms. Sultan's tome is a modern day reckoning of the experiences of all peoples who sought bridgehead on the shores of the United States -- set against the backdrop of a war in the backyards of both her past and future, a war where the casualties she experienced were family members, freedom, and in many senses identity. From the embarassment wearing home-made clothes to public school as a child of an illiterate mother, to breaking out of the strangulation of an arranged marriage in her teenage years - to the triumph of influencing the Afghan Constitution in the name of women's rights as an international leader, Ms. Sultan's story reverberates with both common humanness and hums with the timbres of early greatness. Ms. Sultan's book pushes envelopes most other authors don't even know exist. Her story is uniquely American and Americanly unique. At not yet 30, she has already begun to change the world, and this relevant, engaging, provocative, fun, sad, and sometimes disturbing tome are easily a first volume of a life meant to meaningfully impact the planet we inhabit. "My War At Home" is a book for the present and the future.