{"product_id":"9781620979525-when-we-were-arabs","title":"When We Were Arabs","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA Jewish Family's Forgotten History\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe stunning debut of a brilliant nonfiction writer whose vivid account of his grandparents’ lives in Egypt, Tunisia, Palestine, and Los Angeles reclaims his family’s Jewish Arab identity\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eWinner of the 2020 Arab American Book Award for nonfiction and one of NPR’s best books of 2019, \u003cem\u003eWhen We Were Arabs\u003c\/em\u003e is a gorgeous family memoir and “a powerful exploration of Arab Jewish identity” (\u003cem\u003eThe New Arab\u003c\/em\u003e) that brings the world of Jewish Arab writer and artist Massoud Hayoun’s parents and grandparents alive, vividly shattering our contemporary understanding of what makes an Arab and what makes a Jew.\u003c\/p\u003e      \u003cp\u003eThere was a time when being an “Arab” didn’t mean you were necessarily Muslim. It was a time when Oscar Hayoun, a Jewish Arab, strode along the Nile in a fashionable suit, and Arabness was a mark of cosmopolitanism, of intellectualism. That was before he and his father arrived at the port of Haifa to join the Zionist state only to find themselves hosed down with DDT and left unemployed on the margins of society.\u003c\/p\u003e      \u003cp\u003eIn this moving book, Oscar’s son, Massoud, raised in Los Angeles, finds his own voice by telling his family’s story. Named one of the most inspiring Arab writers of 2020, Hayoun seeks to reclaim a worldly, nuanced Arab identity as part of the larger project to recall a time before ethnic identity was mangled for political ends. “An intriguing read for anyone interested in furthering their understanding of complex identities and mixed cultural heritage” (\u003cem\u003eJewish News\u003c\/em\u003e), \u003cem\u003eWhen We Were Arabs\u003c\/em\u003e is also a journey deep into a lost age of sophisticated innocence in the Arab world, an age that is now nearly lost.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56384442597750,"sku":"9781620979525","price":15.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/orig_33677630.jpg?v=1759469716","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9781620979525-when-we-were-arabs","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}