What’s New?

Tamim Ansary’s new book, Destiny Disrupted, A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes is now in bookstores and is getting glowing reviews. The San Francisco Chronicle calls the book “an indispensable guide.” The Oregonian says it is “vivid, often wrenching.” The St. Louis Post Dispatch says, “you’d be well advised to settle in with “Destiny Disrupted.”  As of June 9, the book has been on the San Francisco Chronicle besteller list for four weeks.  Read more about Ansary here. See him here.  Read his Mother Jones interview here. In other news, Ansary has a new novel, The Widow’s Husband, available for download at  www.Scribd.com/store.

What’s Destiny?

Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes offers an alternative to the familiar Western narrative of world history: instead of running the story through Greece, Rome, the Dark Ages, and the Renaissence, and Reformation, it follows a line from the ancient Persian empires through the global Khalifate, the Mongol Holocaust, the Muslim Resurgance, Western colonialism and on into modern times.
“…a must-read,” says Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner.
“…will be read for generations to come,” says Reza Aslan, author of How to Win a Cosmic War. “Beautifully clear and endlessly engaging…” says Raj Patel, author of 
                           Stuffed and Starved (and the upcoming The Value of Nothing.) 
                           Read more about Destiny here.
 

Who’s The Widow’s Husband? 

Ah, you’ll have to read the novel to find out. Ansary’s sweeping historical epic is set in Afghanistan in 1841. It focuses on a group of villagers living in the tiny hamlet of Char Bagh, about 100 miles north of Kabul.  The spiritually tormented headman Ibrahim is torn between his fragile young wife Soraya, a slip of a girl haunted by evil spirits, and his charismatic sister-in-law Khadija, who longs to become Ibrahim’s second wife. One day a mysterious vagabond wanders into the village–a  fool, but possibly a God-crazed fool, a malang: a man with the power to channel miracles. But the plot really thickens when the villagers realize their country has been invaded by the British… The Widow’s Husband is the first novel to tell the story of British imperialism in Afghanistan from the Afghan point of view. Purchase the book (for $2) here.

Where in the world will Tamim be next? 

Thursday, June 18
San Francisco, CA
Inside StoryTime series
Cafe Royale
800 Post Street (@ Leavenworth)
6:30-8:30 pm

Monday, June 22
                                Capitola, CA (near Santa Cruz)
                                Capitola Books 
                                1475 41st Ave
                                7:30 pm

                                Wednesday, June 24
                                Los Angeles, CA
                                Los Angeles Public Library 
                                630 West 5th Street
                                7 pm
                                

Look up Ansary’s full book tour schedule here.