Infidel

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Simon and Schuster, 2008 - Biography & Autobiography - 361 pages

In this profoundly affecting memoir from the internationally renowned author of The Caged Virgin, Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells her astonishing life story, from her traditional Muslim childhood in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, and Kenya, to her intellectual awakening and activism in the Netherlands, and her current life under armed guard in the West.

One of today's most admired and controversial political figures, Ayaan Hirsi Ali burst into international headlines following an Islamist's murder of her colleague, Theo van Gogh, with whom she made the movie Submission.

Infidel is the eagerly awaited story of the coming of age of this elegant, distinguished -- and sometimes reviled -- political superstar and champion of free speech. With a gimlet eye and measured, often ironic, voice, Hirsi Ali recounts the evolution of her beliefs, her ironclad will, and her extraordinary resolve to fight injustice done in the name of religion. Raised in a strict Muslim family and extended clan, Hirsi Ali survived civil war, female mutilation, brutal beatings, adolescence as a devout believer during the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, and life in four troubled, unstable countries largely ruled by despots. In her early twenties, she escaped from a forced marriage and sought asylum in the Netherlands, where she earned a college degree in political science, tried to help her tragically depressed sister adjust to the West, and fought for the rights of Muslim immigrant women and the reform of Islam as a member of Parliament. Even though she is under constant threat -- demonized by reactionary Islamists and politicians, disowned by her father, and expelled from her family and clan -- she refuses to be silenced.

Ultimately a celebration of triumph over adversity, Hirsi Ali's story tells how a bright little girl evolved out of dutiful obedience to become an outspoken, pioneering freedom fighter. As Western governments struggle to balance democratic ideals with religious pressures, no story could be timelier or more significant.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - homeschoolmimzi - LibraryThing

This book was not on my radar. My husband brought it home from work one day- it was in a free pile- and so I decided to read it, not expecting the huge impact it would have on me. I'd never heard of ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - aront - LibraryThing

This is a political book with an agenda. Some have used those words to criticize this book & Ali. To me it is the highest praise. Her politics are the politics of freedom, like Martin Luther King Jr ...

Contents

• Bloodlines: 3
• Under the Talal Tree: 19
• Playing Tag in Allahs Palace: 37
• Weeping Orphans and Widowed Wives: 55
• Secret Rendezvous Sex and the Scent ofSuleumauilei: 61
• Doubt and Defiance: 89
• Disillusion and Deceit: 123
• Refugees: 145
• Abeh: 163
• My Freedom: 181
• Running Away: 183
• A Trial by the Elders: 201
• Haweya: 213
• Leiden: 237
• Leaving God: 261
• Threats: 283
• Politics: 303
• The Murder of Theo: 317
• The Letter of the Law: 337
• Acknowledgments: 351

About the author

Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, was raised Muslim, and spent her childhood and young adulthood in Africa and Saudi Arabia. In 1992, Hirsi Ali came to the Netherlands as a refugee. She earned her college degree in political science and worked for the Dutch Labor party. She denounced Islam after the September 11 terrorist attacks and now serves as a Dutch parliamentarian, fighting for the rights of Muslim women in Europe, the enlightenment of Islam, and security in the West.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Infidel; Book club kit
• Author: Ayaan Hirsi Ali
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Simon and Schuster, 2008
• ISBN: 0743289692, 9780743289696
• Length: 361 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / General; Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs; Biography & Autobiography / Political; Biography & Autobiography / Women