Nonfiction Winner in the Asian American Literary Awards:

Here are the judges’ citations:

“Amitava Kumar expertly weaves reportage, narrative and analysis in A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb through the stories of two convicted terrorists. In prose that packs punch, irony and humor, this book forces a reader to examine and question the global hunt for terrorists, and the motivations on both sides. It is brilliantly written and rendered.” –S. Mitra Kalita

“Here is a passionate and intellectually astute meditation on the dire consequences of xenophobic state surveillance and policing after 9/11. Kumar takes the reader to a sprawling landscape of people under siege with his sharp prose and poetic sensibility. Relentless in his pursuit of social symptoms and maladies, Amitava Kumar nevertheless does so in a way that provokes the reader to respond in capacious and thoughtful ways. This book is for our times.” –Martin F. Manalansan IV

“Amitava Kumar’s A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb is a book about the atrocities of nations.  It is a moral argument for the complexity of identity beyond the stereotypes of fear. The work is a testament to the human perspective at its brightest, broadest and best, and the harrowing consequences when we choose not to see.” –Kao Kalia Yang

Click here to read the Duke Press page for the book

Reviews

From the New York Times: The Global War on Small People

From the Publisher’s Weekly: Staff Picks 2010

From the Christian Science Monitor: Has post-9/11 fear created a not-so-brave new world of bullies and fools?

From the National: The Cultural Damage of the ‘War on Terror’

Watch Amitava Kumar (with Robert Baer) on Al Jazeera The Riz Khan Show

Interview with the author on the Leonard Lopate Show

Interview with the author on PRI’s The World

Interview with the author on WBAI, Asia Pacific Forum

Interview with the author on WAMC, The Roundtable

Listen to Amitava Kumar and Hari Kunzru on this Nation Podcast discussing Islamophobia

Interview with the author, Barnes and Noble Review

Interview with the author, India Abroad

Interview with the author in Chronogram

To read excerpts from the book, click here and here

Reviews of the Indian edition

Click here