A remarkable book from one of the foremost experts on Muslims in America. Becoming American? is a timely and perceptive look at the Arab and Muslim experience. Haddad has written a nuanced historical account for anyone trying to make sense of post-9/11 America. This book presents great insight into the diversity and vibrancy of the Muslim community and its potential to help achieve the American promise. This should be required reading.
~Farid Senzai, Director of Research at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding and co-editor of Educating the Muslims in America
For the past 30 years, Yvonne Haddad has been one of the most important scholars of Islam and Muslims in North America. This new book is a welcome addition to her critical work on Arabs and Muslims in the public and political landscapes of the United States. Blending anecdotes and personal narratives with recent scholarship, she has created a book that is as readable as it is important.
~Amir Hussain, Professor of Theological Studies, Loyola Marymount University and author of Muslims and the Making of America
With this book, Haddad builds on her incomparable reputation as the leading scholar of contemporary Islam in North America. As in all of Haddad's work, Becoming American? gives careful attention to the impact of global, regional, and national political trends on the construction of unique Muslim and Arab American identities. This book is especially impressive for its cogent analysis of various appraisals of American pluralism from several perspectives. Drawing from scholarly critiques to official U.S. policy to popular interpretations, this book offers mature thinking about the consequences for Muslim and Arab Americans found in the current reimagining of the United States as a pluralistic society.
~Kathleen Moore, Professor of Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
... timely and important... Essential.
~Choice
[Haddad] offers a historical perspective for understanding the emergence and appeal of political Islam as a distinct alternative for Muslim countries in the postcolonial 20th century. A highly recommended quick read, good for libraries and anyone interested in a better-informed understanding of multiethnic, multireligious America.
~Publishers Weekly
A must-read for all those interested in the development of Western Arab and Muslim communities.
~Anthony McRoy, The Muslim World Book Review
Haddad is always at the cutting edge in the study of Arab and Muslim Americans. Becoming American? is an important contribution both to the American Muslim community and to the growing corpus of scholarly writing on Islam in America. Haddad's is a unique voice and one that is highly valued.
~Jane I. Smith, Harvard Divinity School
Yvonne Haddad has added to her outstanding portfolio of American-Muslim studies with this well-written and fascinating book...
~Asma Hasan, Saudi Aramco World
In all, in remarkable and succinct fashion, Haddad prods readers to ask what it means to be truly American and paves the way forward for not only increased understanding but for forming a Muslim message that is capable of uplifting American society.
~Helen Dumont, The Midwest Book Review
