In today’s political climate, where threats of mass deportations and a Muslim registry are making the headlines, the issues of civil rights, identity, and belonging explored inside Patriot Acts: Narratives of Post-9/11 Injustice are perhaps more urgent than ever before.
A groundbreaking collection of oral histories, Patriot Acts tells the stories of people who were needlessly swept up in the War on Terror. In their own words, narrators recount personal experiences of the post-9/11 backlash that have deeply altered their lives and communities. The eighth book in the Voice of Witness series, Patriot Acts illuminates these experiences in a compelling collection of eighteen oral histories from men and women who have found themselves subject to a wide range of human and civil rights abuses—from rendition and torture to workplace discrimination, bullying, FBI surveillance, and harassment.
Download the corresponding lesson plans on the Voice of Witness website.
NARRATORS INCLUDE:
ADAMA, a sixteen-year-old Muslim American who was abruptly seized from her home by the FBI on suspicion of being a suicide bomber. Even after her release from detention, she was forced to wear a tracking bracelet for the next three years.
TALAT, the mother of 9/11 first responder Salman Hamdani, who went missing after the attacks. As Talat and her husband searched desperately for their son, they were hounded by the media, who portrayed Salman as a possible terrorist in hiding.
RANA, a Sikh man whose brother Balbir was gunned down outside the gas station where he worked. Balbir’s death was the first reported hate murder after 9/11.
ISBN: 9781642595550
Publication date: December 13, 2022
"Journalist Alia Malek has deftly edited and transcribed a moving collection of true stories in Patriot Acts: Narratives of Post-9/11 Injustice that may help us all ponder more deeply and clearly."
—Susanne Pari, San Francisco Chronicle
"The narratives collected in this important and timely book will go a long way toward helping us deal with the reality of what we have been through, and where we are going, since the attacks of 9/11."
—Reza Aslan, author of No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam
“Gripping. This is an important book that takes us beyond the featureless generalities of the post-9/11 drama to show us the particular experiences of individual human beings, each one living a life unlike any other.”
—Tamim Ansary, author of West of Kabul, East of New York
Edited by Alia Malek
One of the best ways you can support Haymarket is by becoming a member of our subscription program. Receive up to 40 books per year and help ensure the future of radical publishing.
Join today and start your subscription with one or more of these new books!
