Muslims of the Heartland: How Syrian Immigrants Made a Home in the American Midwest

Winner of the 2023 Evelyn Shakir Non-Fiction Book Award from the Arab American National Museum Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2023 Uncovers the surprising history of Muslim life in the early American Midwest The American Midwest is often thought of as uniformly white, and shaped exclusively by Christian values.However, this view of the region as an unvarying landscape fails to consider a significant community at its very heart.Muslims of the Heartland uncovers the long history of Muslims in a part of the country where many readers would not expect to find them. Edward E. Curtis IV, a descendant of Syrian Midwesterners, vividly portrays the intrepid men and women who busted sod on the short-grass prairies of the Dakotas, peddled needles and lace on the streets of Cedar Rapids, and worked in the railroad car factories of Michigan City.This intimate portrait follows the stories of individuals such as farmer Mary Juma, pacifist Kassem Rameden, poet Aliya Hassen, and bookmaker Kamel Osma