Research Catalog
Call me American : a memoir
- Title
- Call me American : a memoir / Abdi Nor Iftin with Max Alexander.
- Author
- Iftin, Abdi Nor
- Publication
- New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2018.
- ©2018
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| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schomburg Center to submit a request in person. | Text | Use in library | Sc D 18-390 | Schomburg Center - Research & Reference |
Details
- Additional Authors
- Alexander, Max, 1957-
- Description
- 310 pages; 22 cm
- Summary
- Abdi Nor Iftin first fell in love with America from afar. As a child, he learned English by listening to American pop artists like Michael Jackson and watching films starring action heroes like Arnold Schwarzenegger. When U.S. marines landed in Mogadishu to take on the warlords, Abdi cheered the arrival of these real Americans, who seemed as heroic as those of the movies. Sporting American clothes and dance moves, he became known around Mogadishu as Abdi American, but when the radical Islamist group al-Shabaab rose to power in 2006, it suddenly became dangerous to celebrate Western culture. Desperate to make a living, Abdi used his language skills to post secret dispatches to NPR and the Internet, which found an audience of worldwide listeners. But as life in Somalia grew more dangerous, Abdi was left with no choice but to flee to Kenya as a refugee. In an amazing stroke of luck, Abdi won entrance to the U.S. in the annual visa lottery, though his route to America was filled with twists and turns and a harrowing sequence of events that nearly stranded him in Nairobi. Now a proud resident of Maine and on the path to citizenship, Abdi Nor Iftin's dramatic, deeply stirring memoir is truly a story for our time: a vivid reminder of why western democracies still beckon to those looking to make a better life.
- Subjects
- Genre/Form
- Autobiographies.
- Biography.
- Note
- "This is a Borzoi Book."
- Contents
- Under the neem tree -- The first bullets -- Trail of thorns -- City of women and children -- Arabic to English -- The one they call American -- Buufis -- Wedding vows -- Sin and punishment -- Trapped -- No number -- Messages from Mogadishu -- Little Mogadishu -- Long odds -- White rooms -- Respect -- Epilogue.
- Call Number
- Sc D 18-390
- ISBN
- 9781524732196
- 1524732192
- 9780525433026
- 0525433023
- LCCN
- 2017043213
- 40028301205
- OCLC
- 1006810672
- Author
- Iftin, Abdi Nor, author.
- Title
- Call me American : a memoir / Abdi Nor Iftin with Max Alexander.
- Publisher
- New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2018.
- Copyright Date
- ©2018
- Edition
- First edition.
- Type of Content
- text
- Type of Medium
- unmediated
- Type of Carrier
- volume
- Local Note
- Schomburg copy with dust jacket.
- Local Subject
- Black author.
- Added Author
- Alexander, Max, 1957- author.
- Other Standard Identifier
- 40028301205
- Research Call Number
- Sc D 18-390