Stranger to History: A Son's Journey through Islamic Lands

Description

As a child, all Aatish Taseer ever had of his father was his photograph in a browning silver frame. Raised by his Sikh mother in Delhi, his father, a Pakistani Muslim, remained a distant figure. It was a fractured upbringing which left Aatish with many questions about his own identity. Stranger to History is the story of the journey Aatish made to try to understand what it means to be Muslim in the twenty-first century. Starting from Istanbul, Islam's once greatest city, he travels to Mecca, its most holy, and then home through Iran and Pakistan. Ending in Lahore, at his estranged father's home, on the night Benazir Bhutto was killed, it is also the story of Aatish's own divided family over the past fifty years.

Aatish Taseer was born in 1980 and educated at Amherst College. He worked as a reporter at Time magazine and has written frequently for Time, The Sunday Times, & Prospect Magazine. He speaks five languages and currently lives between London and New Delhi. This is his first book.

* A subtle and poignant work by a young writer to watch. -- V.S. Naipaul * Taseer uses this intensely personal prism to spring a narrative that darts deftly between physical journey and childhood memoir. The paternal relationship he never had becomes the backbone of the book, which is all the better for it. Uncomfortable reading for Daddy, certainly, but gripping for the rest of us. Literary Review 20090301 * Probing, exhilarating and shot through with pinpoint observations of people, places and situations. -- Kenny Hodgart Herald 20090321 * Stranger to History is remarkable. The souks, the landcapes and the people are described in simple, poetic language ... Indispensable reading for anyone who wants a wider understanding of the Islamic world, of its history and its politics. -- Emmanuelle Smith Financial Times 20090318 * A memorable read that engages the mind as well as the heart. -- Tom Adair Scotsman 20090311 * Engrossing and provocative ... Part travelogue, part memoir, this honest and revealing book is an attempt to form a better relationship with his father. Throughout, he confronts the concerns of religion and politics head on, unafraid to question the basic principles of faith and the Islamic view of history. -- Duncan Mills Traveller Magazine 20090301 * A revealing personal odyssey ... Illuminating. The Bookseller 20081205 * Stranger to History is remarkable. The souks, the landcapes and the people are described in simple, poetic language ... Indespensable reading for anyone who wants a wider understanding of the Islamic world, of its history and its politics. Financial Times