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lep42's review against another edition
3.0
This is a valuable read with 3/4 of it's sections (Muslims in History, Muslims in Theory, and Muslims in Culture) being quite strong. The third section, Muslims in Politics gets a bit repetive. I really appreciated Bayoumi's dry wit.
juliusmoose's review
4.0
This book was more like a collection of essays, and written in a more academic register than a lot of what I've read lately, so reading it was a bit of an adjustment. Also, it feels a little dated, through, I want to emphasize, no fault of the author. Just, it was published in 2015 and I’d guess mostly written between 2012 and 2014, and reading it I felt the world has changed and not for the better. Like, now if you’re talking about immigration and Muslim Americans, you’d have to talk about Trump's Muslim ban, but this author isn’t a time traveler and so he didn’t.
I think my favorite* essay was "Racing Religion" (chapter 3), about the creation of "muslim" as a racial category in America. It talks about the way being muslim worked with the immigration system through time. The rules about who could or could not immigrate or become naturalized at any point in American history (including now!) is an endless source of appalled horror.
Overall, this is a good collection of essays about being Muslim in America. Bit academic, though.
* I mean favorite in that it put things together for me in an interesting and memorable way, not on the basis of subject, because in fact all the subjects are good.
I think my favorite* essay was "Racing Religion" (chapter 3), about the creation of "muslim" as a racial category in America. It talks about the way being muslim worked with the immigration system through time. The rules about who could or could not immigrate or become naturalized at any point in American history (including now!) is an endless source of appalled horror.
Overall, this is a good collection of essays about being Muslim in America. Bit academic, though.
* I mean favorite in that it put things together for me in an interesting and memorable way, not on the basis of subject, because in fact all the subjects are good.
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