Dimensions
158 x 238 x 27mm
The courageous and extraordinary story of one man's journey from the heart of the Islamic world to the halls of Harvard via the battlefields of Afghanistan.
Masood Farivar was ten years old when his childhood in a then peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan was shattered by the Soviet invasion of 1979. Fleeing across the border to Pakistan Masood entered a madrassa for refugees, but soon returned to his home to join the anti-Soviet jihad.
Two years later, having fought alongside the Afghan mujahideen and Arab and Pakistani volunteers, Farivar left his country to study at Harvard, and then worked as a journalist in New York. But finally, after a decade in the United States, he felt he had to go back to Afghanistan. Having seen terrorism turn America into a hotbed of anti-Muslim racism, he now returned to a country that had been devastated by war and which had become a safe haven for international terrorists.
In this remarkable memoir, Masood paints a vibrant portrait of his family and his nation's history, reveals the world of militant Islam by taking us deep inside the madrassas, vividly recounts his experiences on the battlefield at Tora Bora, and conveys the culture shock of a Muslim living in the West today.
'This is an extraordinary tale of courage and transformation.' LESLIE COCKBURN
'In these troubled times this is a book that is brave, honest, humane and full of love.' AIDEN HARTLEY
