Sam Harris, author of “The End of Faith” and “Letter to a Christian Nation”

There is no one like her - and we need thousands like her.” Hirsi Ali’s voice and example are simply indispensable. ‘Nomad’ is both a moving account of her personal journey out of bondage, and trumpet blast to awaken Westerners at all points along the political spectrum: there is a war of ideas that must be waged and won in the Muslim world, and we misunderstand the true tenets of Islam at our peril. I can think of no one who better exemplifies the hard-won gains of the Enlightenment or who can speak more effectively in their defense, than Ayaan Hirsi Ali. “There is more wisdom and compassion in this book than can be found in most university libraries - and surely more than has been published in the Muslim world since the time of the Prophet.

For me, the three most beautiful words in the emerging language of secular resistance to tyranny are Ayaan Hirsi Ali.” Her humor and irony and fortitude constitute the finest counterpoint to the surly cult of death that presses itself against us. “Here is the story of a young African woman, born into Islam, who was given every possible occasion to feel grievance, resentment and humiliation yet who has employed her own life as an example of internationalism, tolerance, multiculturalism and the redemption of others. With deep understanding, and through vivid anecdotes and observations of people, cultures, and the political debacles that are engulfing the world, she takes us with her on an illuminating, unforgettable journey. “Nomad” is the story of what happened after the Dutch director with whom she made a documentary about the domestic abuse of Muslim women was murdered by a radical Islamist and death threats forced her into hiding of her bid to start a new life in America of her renewed contact with her family on her father’s death and of her attempts to live by her adopted principles. A unique blend of personal narrative and reportage, moving, engaging, wryly funny at times, “Nomad” gives us an inside view of her battle for equality in the face of considerable odds.Īyaan captured the world’s attention with “Infidel,” the eye-opening memoir of her childhood in Africa and Saudi Arabia, and her escape to Holland en route to a forced marriage in Canada. In her powerful new memoir, the #1 bestselling author of “Infidel” tells the stirring story of her search for a new life as she tries to reconcile her Islamic past with her passionate adherence to democracy and Western values.

Nomad by Ayaan Hirsi Ali