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THE CALL

Name: THE CALL
Author: Krithika Varagur
ISBN: 978-1-73362-376-6

INSIDE THE GLOBAL SAUDI RELIGIOUS PROJECT

by Krithika Varagur ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 21, 2020

Varagur wisely allows many voices to be heard—and shows how Saudi influence is now more transparent but still insidious.

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An award-winning journalist follows the money to track the pervasive spread of Saudi Arabia’s particular brand of ultraconservative Islam.

Varagur, who reports on Indonesia for the Guardian and other South and Southeast Asian countries for a variety of publications, scrupulously lays out three case studies in which Saudi Arabia has managed to export Wahhabism, often in violent ways. The author looks at vibrant Salafi (the global brand of Wahhabism) communities in Indonesia, where her work took her in recent years; northern Nigeria, which has produced numerous states run by strict Sharia law and given rise to Boko Haram; and Kosovo, a small country of 1.8 million people that has nonetheless “contributed more foreign fighters per capita to ISIS than any other country in Europe.” The leaders of these “thriving Salafi ecosystems” were originally trained (indoctrinated) in Saudi Arabia, specifically at the Islamic University of Medina, which was built in the early 1960s by King Faisal and has become one of the most significant instruments of Saudi “dawa,” or call to Islam that “refers to proselytization more generally.” With the injection of oil money in the 1970s and the perceived threat of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the kingdom endowed several powerful charities—e.g., the Muslim World League, which developed into a violent “intolerance factory.” In her three riveting, thoroughly researched case studies, Varagur investigates why the Saudi brand of Islam is so appealing: It is radical in its simplicity, clearly instructs behavior, provides direct access to important texts, and offers a sense of community to its believers worldwide. The author also chronicles how Faisal personally sponsored delegations from IUM to African nations and how Saudi charities were key elements in the effort to rebuild Kosovo after the 1998-1999 war. Varagur wisely allows many voices to be heard—and shows how Saudi influence is now more transparent but still insidious.

Pub Date: April 21, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-73362-376-6

Page Count: -

Publisher: Columbia Global Reports

Review Posted Online: March 7, 2020

Categories:

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HUMANS OF NEW YORK

STORIES

by Brandon Stanton photographed by Brandon Stanton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 13, 2015

A wondrous mix of races, ages, genders, and social classes, and on virtually every page is a surprise.

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Photographer and author Stanton returns with a companion volume to Humans of New York (2013), this one with similarly affecting photographs of New Yorkers but also with some tales from his subjects’ mouths.

Readers of the first volume—and followers of the related site on Facebook and elsewhere—will feel immediately at home. The author has continued to photograph the human zoo: folks out in the streets and in the parks, in moods ranging from parade-happy to deep despair. He includes one running feature—“Today in Microfashion,” which shows images of little children dressed up in various arresting ways. He also provides some juxtapositions, images and/or stories that are related somehow. These range from surprising to forced to barely tolerable. One shows a man with a cat on his head and a woman with a large flowered headpiece, another a construction worker proud of his body and, on the facing page, a man in a wheelchair. The emotions course along the entire continuum of human passion: love, broken love, elation, depression, playfulness, argumentativeness, madness, arrogance, humility, pride, frustration, and confusion. We see varieties of the human costume, as well, from formalwear to homeless-wear. A few celebrities appear, President Barack Obama among them. The “stories” range from single-sentence comments and quips and complaints to more lengthy tales (none longer than a couple of pages). People talk about abusive parents, exes, struggles to succeed, addiction and recovery, dramatic failures, and lifelong happiness. Some deliver minirants (a neuroscientist is especially curmudgeonly), and the children often provide the most (often unintended) humor. One little boy with a fishing pole talks about a monster fish. Toward the end, the images seem to lead us toward hope. But then…a final photograph turns the light out once again.

A wondrous mix of races, ages, genders, and social classes, and on virtually every page is a surprise.

Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-250-05890-4

Page Count: 432

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: July 27, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015

Categories:

GENERAL CURRENT EVENTS & SOCIAL ISSUES | CURRENT EVENTS & SOCIAL ISSUES | ART & PHOTOGRAPHY

- BOOK REVIEW
TANQUERAY
by Stephanie Johnson & Brandon Stanton illustrated by Henry Sene Yee

- BOOK REVIEW
HUMANS
by Brandon Stanton

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE HUMANS
by Brandon Stanton ; photographed by Brandon Stanton

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THE UNDOCUMENTED AMERICANS

by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 19, 2020

A welcome addition to the literature on immigration told by an author who understands the issue like few others.

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The debut book from “one of the first undocumented immigrants to graduate from Harvard.”

In addition to delivering memorable portraits of undocumented immigrants residing precariously on Staten Island and in Miami, Cleveland, Flint, and New Haven, Cornejo Villavicencio, now enrolled in the American Studies doctorate program at Yale, shares her own Ecuadorian family story (she came to the U.S. at age 5) and her anger at the exploitation of hardworking immigrants in the U.S. Because the author fully comprehends the perils of undocumented immigrants speaking to journalist, she wisely built trust slowly with her subjects. Her own undocumented status helped the cause, as did her Spanish fluency. Still, she protects those who talked to her by changing their names and other personal information. Consequently, readers must trust implicitly that the author doesn’t invent or embellish. But as she notes, “this book is not a traditional nonfiction book….I took notes by hand during interviews and after the book was finished, I destroyed those notes.” Recounting her travels to the sites where undocumented women, men, and children struggle to live above the poverty line, she reports her findings in compelling, often heart-wrenching vignettes. Cornejo Villavicencio clearly shows how employers often cheat day laborers out of hard-earned wages, and policymakers and law enforcement agents exist primarily to harm rather than assist immigrants who look and speak differently. Often, cruelty arrives not only in economic terms, but also via verbal slurs and even violence. Throughout the narrative, the author explores her own psychological struggles, including her relationships with her parents, who are considered “illegal” in the nation where they have worked hard and tried to become model residents. In some of the most deeply revealing passages, Cornejo Villavicencio chronicles her struggles reconciling her desire to help undocumented children with the knowledge that she does not want "kids of my own." Ultimately, the author’s candor about herself removes worries about the credibility of her stories.

A welcome addition to the literature on immigration told by an author who understands the issue like few others.