Western Historical Fiction Views: 24
RetailImagine that a terrorist tried to kill you. If you could face him again, on your terms, what would you do?The True American tells the story of Raisuddin Bhuiyan, a Bangladesh Air Force officer who dreams of immigrating to America and working in technology. But days after 9/11, an avowed "American terrorist" named Mark Stroman, seeking revenge, walks into the Dallas minimart where Bhuiyan has found temporary work and shoots him, maiming and nearly killing him. Two other victims, at other gas stations, aren’t so lucky, dying at once. The True American traces the making of these two men, Stroman and Bhuiyan, and of their fateful encounter. It follows them as they rebuild shattered lives—one striving on Death Row to become a better man, the other to heal and pull himself up from the lowest rung on the ladder of an unfamiliar country.Ten years after the shooting, an Islamic pilgrimage seeds in Bhuiyan a strange idea: if he is ever to be whole, he must reenter Stroman's life. He longs to confront Stroman and speak to him face to face about the attack that changed their lives. Bhuiyan publicly forgives Stroman, in the name of his religion and its notion of mercy. Then he wages a legal and public-relations campaign, against the State of Texas and Governor Rick Perry, to have his attacker spared from the death penalty.Ranging from Texas's juvenile justice system to the swirling crowd of pilgrims at the Hajj in Mecca; from a biker bar to an immigrant mosque in Dallas; from young military cadets in Bangladesh to elite paratroopers in Israel; from a wealthy household of chicken importers in Karachi, Pakistan, to the sober residences of Brownwood, Texas, The True American is a rich, colorful, profoundly moving exploration of the American dream in its many dimensions. Ultimately it tells a story about our love-hate relationship with immigrants, about the encounter of Islam and the West, about how—or whether—we choose what we become.**Review“Remarkable…a richly detailed, affecting account…Giridharadas seeks less to uplift than illuminate…Which of these men is the "true American" of the title? That there is no simple answer to that question is Giridharadas's finest accomplishment.” (Ayad Akhtar - New York Times Book Review) “This is an enthralling real-life tale of murder and forgiveness and what it means to be an American. Brilliantly reported and powerfully told, this Texas drama personalizes the ethnic diversity that has always been the source of our nation's strength and many of its tensions. It's also a breathtaking account of how a crazed murderer came to know a Muslim immigrant he tried to kill.” (Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs) “Exhilarating and deeply affecting, Giridharadas’s book is not only a captivating narrative; it reminds us of the immigrant’s journey at the heart of the American story and how, in the wake of violent tragedy, one new to our country can help us to see through to the best in ourselves, even when the law requires far less.” (Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University) “Anand Giridharadas has written a book that is simply impossible to put down. Just when we thought that we had read everything we could possibly absorb about 9/11, The True American finds a new and compelling perspective, one that explores two sharply opposed dimensions of the American experience in a style that neither celebrates nor condemns. We readers become the jury, weighing what it means to be a true American today.” (Anne-Marie Slaughter, president and CEO of the New America Foundation) “Competing visions of the American Dream clash in this rich account of a hate crime and its unlikely reverberations….Giridharadas’ s evocative reportage captures the starkly contrasting, but complementary struggles of these men with sympathy and insight, setting them in a Texas landscape of strip malls and gas stations that is at once a moonscape of social anomie and a welcoming blank slate for a newcomer seeking to assimilate. The result is a classic story of arrival with a fresh and absorbing twist.” (Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)) “An unforgettable story about two men caught in the jaws of history. In this compassionate, tenacious, and deeply intelligent book, Giridharadas casts brilliant new illumination on what we mean by ‘American.’” (Teju Cole, author of Open City) “Meticulously reconstructs two lives that collided in horrific fashion… A compelling, nuanced look at the shifting, volatile meaning of American identity In the post-9/11 era.” (Kirkus Reviews) “Eloquent… From murder to execution, forgiveness, personal responsibility, governmental intervention and more, there are enough dichotomies here to fuel heated book-club discussions for years.” (Booklist) About the AuthorAnand Giridharadas writes the Admit One column for the New York Times's arts pages and the Currents column for its global edition. He is the author of India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of A Nation's Remaking. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. Views: 19
In What Stays in Vegas, Reuters journalist and Harvard fellow Adam Tanner exposes the greatest threat to online privacy. It's not the NSA, but private American firms. These are companies like Caesar's Entertainment in Las Vegas that operate behind the scenes, behind the tiny script of legal agreements, with little to no oversight. This is the information age, and information is power!" screamed DocuSearch, "America's Premier Resource for Private Investigator Searches & Lookups" in 1996—and they were right.Despite the fact that Caesar's casinos are decades old and can't boast an array of singing gondoliers like the glitzy and glamorous Venetian, thousands of enthusiastic clients continue to pour through the ever-open doors of their hotels. The secret to the company's success lies in their one unrivaled asset: Caesar's Entertainment is able to track the activities of every hapless gambler that walks in. The company knows exactly what games he likes to play,... Views: 16
New York City commercial real estate power-broker Jonah Gray has finally resurfaced and he has a lot of unfinished business. Since becoming a fugitive and fleeing his own country, the road traveled has been a long and shocking one. It has been a road of singular purpose: the methodical preparation for his return. Saddled nine years ago with a rare Faberge Imperial Easter Egg thought lost in the Russian Revolution, Jonah made sure the treasure ended up at its destination. But in keeping it from his conniving half-brother, he inadvertently killed a dirty New York City cop. And got his own father murdered in cold blood. Jonah is unsure which is greater: all he has lost in this world, or all he has learned about himself. One thing is certain. It is time. Time for ruthlessness. Time for payback. Time for truth. Time for redemption. Time for a new deal. Jonah believes he is ready for everything that is about to happen. The question remainsis everyone else? Views: 15
Fiction Western Adventure Views: 14
