Description
Book SynopsisReveals the important role of Muslim Americans in American politics Since the 1950s, and especially in the post-9/11 era, Muslim Americans have played outsized roles in US politics, sometimes as political dissidents and sometimes as political insiders. However, more than at any other moment in history, Muslim Americans now stand at the symbolic center of US politics and public life. This volume argues that the future of American democracy depends on whether Muslim Americans are able to exercise their political rights as citizens and whether they can find acceptance as social equals. Many believe that, over time, Muslim Americans will be accepted just as other religious minorities have been. Yet Curtis contends that this belief overlooks the real barrier to their full citizenship, which is political rather than cultural. The dominant form of American liberalism has prevented the political assimilation of American Muslims, even while leaders from Eisenhower to Obama have offered rhetoric
Trade Review"Argues that full cultural and social citizenship has not yet been achieved, yet Muslim Americans matter to key events and ideas in modern America." -- Kathleen Moore,University of California, Santa Barbara
"Reminding us that the Nation of Islam and Malik El-Shabazz are the predecessors of the contemporary landscape of Muslim politics, Curtis describes the challenges to liberalism and American empire that came through the forging of an Islamic liberation theology. Written by one of the leading scholars of Muslim history in the United States, this is an urgent book for our time." -- Junaid Rana,Author of Terrifying Muslims: Race and Labor in the South Asian Diaspora
"[Curtis] explores this theme with accessible personal stories, including the evolution of Malcolm X into Malik Shabazz, the stories of four Muslim American women, the deaths of Muslim American soldiers Corporal Kareem Khan and Captain Humayun Khan, and dissident activist Linda Sarsour." * Choice *
