Amy P. Knight

This Muslim American Life by Moustafa Bayoumi

This is primarily a collection of previously published essays and articles on War-on-Terror-era treatment of Muslims in America (legally, culturally, socially, artistically). Much of it was stuff I knew on some level, either from law or reading or experience dating a Muslim — but a lot of it I hadn’t thought of much or lately or in this context or perspective. I definitely feel like I learned something and gained awareness. I wonder if it’s a coincidence that the two I enjoyed the most were the last two, not previously published, one about the CIA and the entertainment industry, the other about meeting oneself as a stereotyped character in a novel (the essay itself presented as a fictional narrative).