Tamim Ansary's passionate personal journey through two cultures in conflict, West of Kabul, East of New York. Shortly after militant Islamic terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center, Tamim Ansary of San Francisco sent an e-mail to twenty friends, telling how the threatened U.S. reprisals against Afghanistan looked to him as an Afghan American. The message spread, and in a few days it had reached, and affected, millions of people-Afghans and Americans, soldiers and pacifists, conservative Christians and talk-show hosts; for the message, written in twenty minutes, was one Ansary had been writing all his life. West of Kabul, East of New York is an urgent communiqué by an American with "an Afghan soul still inside me," who has lived in the very different worlds of Islam and the secular West. The son of an Afghan man and the first American woman to live as an Afghan, Ansary grew up in the intimate world of Afghan family life, one never seen by outsiders. No sooner had he emigrated to San Francisco than he was drawn into the community of Afghan expatriates sustained by the dream of returning to their country -and then drawn back to the Islamic world himself to discover the nascent phenomenon of militant religious fundamentalism. Tamim Ansary has emerged as one of the most eloquent voices on the conflict between Islam and the West. His book is a deeply personal account of the struggle to reconcile two great civilizations and to find some point in the imagination where they might meet.

By the author of Destiny Disrupted: an enlightening, accessible history of modern Afghanistan from the Afghan point of view, showing how Great Power conflicts have interrupted its ongoing, internal struggle to take form as a nation

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 In Afghanistan, people lived in compounds, where they spent all their time with their group. In the West, we spend most of our time alone, because we’re too afraid of being alone. #2 In Afghanistan, people lived in compounds, where they spent all their time with their group. In the West, we spend most of our time alone because we're too afraid of being alone. #3 In Afghanistan, people lived in compounds where they spent all their time with their group. In the West, we spend most of our time alone because we're too afraid of being alone. #4 My dad, who was from Afghanistan, was given a scholarship to study in the US. He went to the University of Illinois, and when he tried to find housing, landlords slammed the door in his face because he was Asian. His bloodline could never be taken away from him.

Farah Ahmedi's "poignant tale of survival" ("Chicago Tribune") chronicles her journey from war to peace. Equal parts tragedy and hope, determination and daring, Ahmedi's memoir delivers a remarkably vivid portrait of her girlhood in Kabul, where the sound of gunfire and the sight of falling bombs shaped her life and stole her family. She herself narrowly escapes death when she steps on a land mine. Eventually the war forces her to flee, first over the mountains to refugee camps across the border, and finally to America. Ahmedi proves that even in the direst circumstances, not only can the human heart endure, it can thrive. "The Other Side of the Sky" is "a remarkable journey" ("Chicago Sun-Times"), and Farah Ahmedi inspires us all.

It is the second Monday in October and school is closed. But do you know why? It's Columbus Day of course! Turn the pages of this book to find out: how Columbus got lost but still became a hero, why native Americans are sometimes called Indians, how other countries celebrate Columbus Day. Each book in the Holiday Histories series describes one of America's holidays or special days. Explore the history of each day and learn the real reason why it is important. Discover what special meaning each day might have for you.

From language to culture to cultural collision: the story of how humans invented history, from the Stone Age to the Virtual Age Traveling across millennia, weaving the experiences and world views of cultures both extinct and extant, The Invention of Yesterday shows that the engine of history is not so much heroic (battles won), geographic (farmers thrive), or anthropogenic (humans change the planet) as it is narrative. Many thousands of years ago, when we existed only as countless small autonomous bands of hunter-gatherers widely distributed through the wilderness, we began inventing stories--to organize for survival, to find purpose and meaning, to explain the unfathomable. Ultimately these became the basis for empires, civilizations, and cultures. And when various narratives began to collide and overlap, the encounters produced everything from confusion, chaos, and war to cultural efflorescence, religious awakenings, and intellectual breakthroughs. Through vivid stories studded with insights, Tamim Ansary illuminates the world-historical consequences of the unique human capacity to invent and communicate abstract ideas. In doing so, he also explains our ever-more-intertwined present: the narratives now shaping us, the reasons we still battle one another, and the future we may yet create.

Introduces Veterans Day, explaining the historical events behind it, how it became a holiday, and how it is observed.