Thrust into the national spotlight on 9/11, Arab-Americans have since been vilified and defended by fellow citizens still trying to make sense of the catastrophe—yet the community itself remains one of America's least understood. Indeed, as Orfalea (Grape Leaves: A Century of Arab-American Poetry
) explains, the U.S. Census Bureau doesn't even recognize the community's roughly three million members as an ethnic group. This volume, a substantial update of Orfalea's 1988 Before the Flames
, traces the century-long arc of Arab immigration, illuminating assimilation and ethnic politics with a loving yet candid eye as the narrative shifts between observations historical, personal and statistical. It comes as something of a surprise to learn, for instance, that only 23% of the community is Muslim. Beautifully written, the book is a much-needed entry in an all but empty field, and is blessedly free of both jargon and jingoism. By grounding the narrative with accounts of his own trips to Lebanon and Syria, Orfalea provides additional depth. If his volume has a flaw, it is its occasional indulgence in long strings of personal interviews; clearly, Orfalea wanted to honor as many as he could. Unavoidably, history morphs into current events as post-9/11 reality comes to frame the community. Since that date, says one Syrian-born interviewee, "we don't feel we're in America anymore." In a nation of immigrants, such observations strike very close to the bone. (Jan.)
