Transnational Muslims in American Society By Amina Beverly McCloud (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2006. 161 pages.)

Abstract

In post-9/11 America, the necessity for a comprehensive study of transnational
Muslim communities, as well as their identities and dynamics within
American society, is filled by Aminah Beverly McCloud’s Transnational Muslims in American Society. This comprehensive study examines a crosssection
of Muslim communities in diaspora and exile, from the Palestinians
to the Iranians to the very small community ofMuslim Chinese. The author’s
examination, which loosely relies on notoriously vague immigration records,
first-person interviews, and clever anecdotes, is also coupled with a general
history and overviewof Islamand the individual communities. The brief histories
of each community and its ethnic, cultural, and Islamic idiosyncrasies,
placed at the beginning of each chapter, are particularly helpful. In addition,
her nuanced analyses ofwomen’s positions in the contexts of their own communities
provides an important depth to the study ...