Go Back to Where You Came from: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American

This is just one of the many warm, lovely, and helpful tips that Wajahat Ali and other children of immigrants receive on a daily basis. Go back where, exactly? Fremont, California, where he grew up, but is now an unaffordable place to live? Or Pakistan, the country his parents left behind a half-century ago?

Growing up living the suburban American dream, young Wajahat devoured comic books (devoid of brown superheroes) and fielded well-intentioned advice from uncles and aunties. ("Become a doctor!") He had turmeric stains under his fingernails, was accident-prone, suffered from OCD, and wore Husky pants, but he was as American as his neighbors, with roots all over the world. Then, while Ali was studying at University of California, Berkeley, 9/11 happened. Muslims replaced communists as America's enemy #1, and he became an accidental spokesman and ambassador of all ordinary, unthreatening things Muslim-y.

Now a middle-aged dad, Ali has become one of the foremost and funniest public intellectuals in America. In Go Back to Where You Came From, he tackles the dangers of Islamophobia, white supremacy, and chocolate hummus, peppering personal stories with astute insights into national security, immigration, and pop culture. In this refreshingly bold, hopeful, and uproarious memoir, Ali offers indispensable lessons for cultivating a more compassionate, inclusive, and delicious America.

Author: Wajahat Ali
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 01/25/2022
Pages: 272
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.97lbs
Size: 9.10h x 5.90w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9780393867978

About the Author
Ali, Wajahat: - Wajahat Ali is a New York Times contributing op-ed writer, public speaker, recovering attorney, and tired dad of two cute kids. His work has appeared in Atlantic, Washington Post, Guardian, and ?New York Review of Books. He lives in the Washington, DC, area.