About the Book
The story of how young Arab and Muslim Americans are forging lives for themselves in a country that often mistakes them for the enemy Arab and Muslim Americans are the new, largely undiscussed aproblema of American society, their lives no better understood than those of African Americans a century ago. Under the cover of the terrorist attacks, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the explosion of political violence around the world, a fundamental misunderstanding of the Arab and Muslim American communities has been allowed to fester and even to define the lives of the seven twentysomething men and women whom we meet in this book. Their names are Rami, Sami, Akram, Lina, Yasmin, Omar, and Rasha, and they all live in Brooklyn, New York, which is home to the largest number of Arab Americans in the United States. We meet Sami, an Arab American Christian, who navigates the minefield of associations the public has of Arabs as well as the expectations that Muslim Arab Americans have of him as a marine who fought in the Iraq war. And Rasha, who, along with her parents, sister, and brothers, was detained by the FBI in a New Jersey jail in early 2002. Without explanation, she and her family were released several months later. As drama of all kinds swirls around them, these young men and women strive for the very things the majority of young adults desire: opportunity, marriage, happiness, and the chance to fulfill their potential. But what they have now are lives that are less certain, and more difficult, than they ever could have imagined: workplace discrimination, warfare in their countries of origin, government surveillance, the disappearance of friends or family, threats ofvigilante violence, and a host of other problems that thrive in the age of terror. And yet How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? takes the raw material of their struggle and weaves it into an unforgettable, and very American, story of promise and hope. In prose that is at once blunt and lyrical, Moustafa Bayoumi allows us to see the world as these men and women do, revealing a set of characters and a place that indelibly change the way we see the turbulent past and yet still hopeful future of this country.
Review :
?As Moustafa Bayoumi argues in his provocative investigation, young Arab-Americans are still struggling to define their identities in a hostile environment and to cope with the governments distrust?despite what they have suffered and continue to endure, Bayoumi and his interview subjects still hope that America is a place where they can live in peace?and find justice, fairness, and freedom.?
?Francine Prose, "O" Magazine
?In "How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?" Bayoumi?gives twenty-something Arab-Americans the chance to talk about their victories and defeats.?
?"The Wall Street Journal"
?These are great stories about people who might be your neighbors, and Bayoumi delivers them with urgency, compassion, wryness and hints of poetry. You may walk away from the book with a much greater understanding of Arab-American life, but you'll feel that's simply because you've hung out with Bayoumi and friends, snarfing down Dunkin' Donuts or puffing on hookahs, talking about
aAs Moustafa Bayoumi argues in his provocative investigation, young Arab-Americans are still struggling to define their identities in a hostile environment and to cope with the governments distrusta]despite what they have suffered and continue to endure, Bayoumi and his interview subjects still hope that America is a place where they can live in peaceaand find justice, fairness, and freedom.a
aFrancine Prose, "O" Magazine
aIn "How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?" Bayoumia]gives twenty-something Arab-Americans the chance to talk about their victories and defeats.a
a"The Wall Street Journal"
aThese are great stories about people who might be your neighbors, and Bayoumi delivers them with urgency, compassion, wryness and hints of poetry. You may walk away from the book with a much greater understanding of Arab-American life, but you'll feel that's simply because you've hung out with Bayoumi and friends, snarfing down Dunkin' Donuts or puffing on hookahs, talking about vital issues.a
aSalon.com
aBayoumi's book fascinates.a
aDeborah Douglas, "Chicago Sun-Times"
aMoustafa Bayoumi's "How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?" has an intimate feel, as the author listens closely to the dreams and realities of seven young Arabs living in post-9/11 America.a
a"Dallas Morning News"
aan indispensable guidea]a well-written book on a subject that is often overlooked or treated as a side note to bigger problems, like the occupation of Iraq, Israeli aggression and civil liberties.a
a"The Arab American News"
aBayoumi succeeds in presenting the reader with more than just a glimpse into these lives. One is right there with Rasha, a Palestinian-American teenager, who was detained along with the rest of her family without reason following 9/11. This first story is the most chilling as one can sense the frustration and dread emanating from Rashaas story. I have heard about things like this happening but to actually read about 19-year-old Rasha and what she and her entire family had to endure is something else. Bayoumias decision to talk to Arabs from Brooklyn was a wise one as these stories are reflections from a group of people that not only have bared the brunt of discrimination, but call New York City their home and therefore, 9/11 affected them as it did most New Yorkers. By providing a book accessible to the masses, Bayoumi gives the Arab problem a very human face that other Americans can empathize with.a
a"MediaandIslam.com"
aBayoumi offers a revealing portrait of life for people who are often scrutinized but seldom heard from.a
a"Booklist"(starred review)
aIn many ways, [Bayoumias] absorbing and affectionate book is a quintessentially American picture of 21st century citizens aabsorbing and refracting all the ethnicities and histories surrounding [them].a However, the testimonies from these young adultsasummary seizures from their homes, harassment from strangers, being fired for having an Arab or Muslim nameahave a weight and a sorrow that is aoften invisible to the general public.aa
a"Publishers Weekly" (starred review)
"The bookas title derives from a question posed by W.E.B. Du Bois in "The Souls of Black Folk," and given the burgeoning of anti-Arab, anti-Muslim sentiments since 9/11, the authoras appropriation of it seems apt. [Bayoumi] poignantly portrays young people coming of age at a time when ainformantsand spies are regular topics of conversationa]friendships are tested, trust disappears.aa
a"Kirkus Reviews"
"Wholly intelligent and sensitively-drawn, "How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?" is an important investigation into the hearts and minds of young Arab-Americans. This significant and eminently readable work breaks through preconceptions and delivers a fresh take on a unique and vital community. Moustafa Bayoumi's voice is refreshingly frank, personable, and true."
aDiana Abu-Jaber, author of "Origin, Crescent," and "The Language of Baklava"
aIn relating the gripping personal stories of seven young Arab and Muslim Americans from Brooklyn in "How Does it Feel to be a Problem," Moustafa Bayoumi reveals the feelings and frustrations of the current era's scapegoats, who can be demonized, profiled, and reviled without fear of sanction. His book shows both the dimensions of this new problem for American society, and the hopeful signs that this problem too can be overcome.a
aRashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies, Columbia University and author of "The Iron Cage"
aSuspenseful storytelling and rich detail make "How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?" required reading for Americans yearning for knowledge about Islam and their Muslim neighbors in the United States. In a series of fascinating narratives about the horrors and conflicts young Muslim-Americans faced after 9/11, Moustafa Bayoumi has written a work that is passionate, yet measured, humorous, and above all enlightening.a
aGeneive Abdo, author of "Mecca" and "Main Street: Muslim Life in America After 9/11"
"With deft prose, acute insight and extensive reporting, Moustafa Bayoumi hasproduced truly engrossing portraits of young Muslim Americans about whom we usually hear only empty polemics. With a light touch, he gives voice to people who are referred to often and heard from rarely. The result is a sense of the tentative resistance of a besieged generation, as well as their determination to force America to be true to its promise even if it means confronting prejudice in its practice."
aGary Younge, author of "Stranger in a Strange Land: Encounters in the Disunited States" and "No Place Like Home"
