"Few communities are simultaneously as important and as poorly understood as the Muslims of the United States. Eye-opening, penetrating, and unfailingly honest, American Islam brings us deep into the lives of influential doers and thinkers across the spectrum of Muslim diversity. Paul Barrett's intelligence and keen eye for detail make the book a pleasure to read; his admirable balance in writing about controversial figures makes it a major contribution to the continuing debate about the future of Islam in the United States."—Noah Feldman, author of After Jihad and Divided by God

"A Sunni who has worked for years as a translator for the Americans in Iraq, [Adnan] has been denied a visa to immigrate to the United States . . . His plight is one of three heart-rending tales woven together in Betrayed, a new play by George Packer about the suffering of Iraqis who have risked everything to help the American government and military in Iraq—and have, all too often, received insufficient protection in return. The play . . . explores its subject with a clean focus that draws out the emotional power of the material with clinical precision."—Charles Isherwood, The New York Times

"Former journalist Busfield first traveled to Afghanistan in 2001 to cover the fall of the Taliban. Her first novel presents the aftermath of that event through the eyes of an 11-year-old boy . . . Readers who like to explore other cultures and current events through fiction will find here an intriguing picture of contemporary Afghanistan. Extras for book clubs are appended."—Debbie Bogenschutz, Cincinnati State Technical & Community College, Library Journal

"[The Challenge] tells the story of a captive who gave his name to a great constitutional decision; and it describes the personal struggles of his lawyers, their courage, and their faults . . . A work of rare drama."—Anthony Lewis, The New York Review of Books

Drawing on the traditions of Arabic storytelling, Elias Khoury's fable of displacement, first published in Arabic in 1981, follows a stranger as he arrives in a gated city and wanders through its labyrinthine streets in search of the city's future—and his own.

"[An] engaging and informative account of Afghan life and politics interwoven with a teen's reactions to his first visit to his family's native land. Because of [Hyder's] background and connections, his interest and knowledge of Afghan history and politics, and his language skills, Akbar was involved in his father's work in ways that most teens can only dream of. Readers are rewarded with an inside look at Afghan reconstruction that is both informative and appealing. The teen admires his father and his father's friends immensely; he dreams of being personally involved in nation-building. Readers will come away from this memoir with a strong desire to see into the young man's future and that of the country that has so entranced him."—School Library Journal, starred review