Purchase
LOOKING FOR PALESTINE
By: Najla Said
Growing Up Confused in an Arab-American Family
Riverhead
August 2013
On Sale: August 1, 2013
272 pages
ISBN: 1594487081
EAN: 9781594487088
Kindle: B00C5R7G3U
Hardcover / e-Book
Add to Wish List
Non-Fiction Memoir
A frank and entertaining memoir, from the daughter of Edward Said, about growing up second-generation Arab American and struggling with that identity.
The daughter of a prominent Palestinian father and a sophisticated Lebanese mother, Najla Said grew up in New York City, confused and conflicted about her cultural background and identity. Said knew that her parents identified deeply with their homelands, but growing up in a Manhattan world that was defined largely by class and conformity, she felt unsure about who she was supposed to be, and was often in denial of the differences she sensed between her family and those around her. The fact that her father was the famous intellectual and outspoken Palestinian advocate Edward Said only made things more complicated. She may have been born a Palestinian Lebanese American, but in Saidβs mind she grew up first as a WASP, having been baptized Episcopalian in Boston and attending the wealthy Upper East Side girlsβ school Chapin, then as a teenage Jew, essentially denying her true roots, even to herselfβuntil, ultimately, the psychological toll of all this self-hatred began to threaten her health.
As she grew older, making increased visits to Palestine and Beirut, Saidβs worldview shifted. The attacks on the World Trade Center, and some of the ways in which Americans responded, finally made it impossible for Said to continue to pick and choose her identity, forcing her to see herself and her passions more clearly. Today, she has become an important voice for second-generation Arab Americans nationwide.
 Media BuzzTavis Smiley - September 23, 2013
All Things Considered - July 28, 2013
| 
© 2003-2026