Infidel: My Life

Infidel is a 2006 autobiography of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-Dutch activist and politician. Hirsi Ali has attracted controversy and death threats were made against Ali in the early 2000s over the publication of the book.^[1][2]

Infidel: My Life

Author	Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Original title	Mijn Vrijheid
Genre	Autobiography
Publisher	Free Press
Publication date	2006
Published in English	2007
Pages	368
ISBN	0-7432-9503-X
Preceded by	The Caged Virgin
Followed by	Nomad: From Islam to America

Synopsis

Hirsi Ali writes about her youth in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Kenya; about her flight to the Netherlands where she applied for political asylum, her university experience in Leiden, her work for the Labour Party, her transfer to the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, her election to Parliament, and the murder of Theo van Gogh, with whom she made the film Submission. The book ends with a discussion of the controversy regarding her application for asylum and status of her citizenship.

Reception

The launch of the book in the Netherlands was considered a success, with the initial print run selling out in two days.^[3] A review in de Volkskrant concluded that "anyone who discovers Hirsi Ali's tumultuous history can only sympathise with her".^[1] The German edition of the book, Mein Leben, meine Freiheit ("My Life, My Freedom"), debuted in the top 20 of the bestseller list of Der Spiegel.^[3][4]

The book was also well received upon the release of the English edition in 2007. Reviewing the book for The Sunday Times, Christopher Hitchens called it a "remarkable book."^[5] Hitchens provided a foreword to the 2008 paperback edition.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anne Applebaum, writing in The Washington Post, said "Infidel is a unique book, Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a unique writer, and both deserve to go far."^[6] A review in The New York Times described the book as a "brave, inspiring and beautifully written memoir".^[7] In an interview, Newsweek editor Fareed Zakaria described it as "an amazing book by an amazing person".^[8]

References

1. van Zijl, Frank (September 30, 2006). "De zware beproevingen van een moslimmeisje". de Volkskrant (in Dutch).
2. Ali, Ayaa Hirsi. Heretic. Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2015. P.6
3. van Zanten, Claudia (October 3, 2006). "Boek Hirsi Ali in twee dagen uitverkocht" (in Dutch). Elsevier.
4. Broder, Henryk (October 2, 2006). "Mohammed wird Liebe bedeuten". Der Spiegel (in German).
5. Christopher Hitchens (February 4, 2007). "A voice that will not be silenced". The Sunday Times. London. Archived from the original on March 4, 2007.
6. Anne Applebaum (February 4, 2007). "The Fight for Muslim Women". Washington Post.
7. William Grimes (February 14, 2007). "No Rest for a Feminist Fighting Radical Islam". New York Times.
8. "Show 308 Transcript- February 23, 2007". Foreign Exchange. February 23, 2007. Archived from the original on August 16, 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2007.

External links

• Netherlands portal
• Somalia portal
• Books portal
• Islam portal

• "Defiant Infidel: An Interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali" on the AEI website.

Excerpts

• Introduction
• Chapter 1
• Edited excerpt

Reviews

• Sandip Roy (February 24, 2007). "The High Price of Freedom". San Francisco Chronicle.
• Joel Whitney. "Un-Veiled". The Village Voice.
• William Grimes (February 14, 2007). "No Rest for a Feminist Fighting Radical Islam". The New York Times. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
• "Dark secrets". The Economist. February 8, 2007.
• Anne Applebaum (February 4, 2007). "The Fight for Muslim Women". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
• Christopher Hitchens (February 4, 2007). "A voice that will not be silenced". The Sunday Times. London. Archived from the original on March 4, 2007. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
• Andrew Anthony (February 4, 2007). "Taking the fight to Islam". The Observer. London. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
• Luuk van Middelaar. "Out of Europe: Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali". The Wall Street Journal.
• Sol Schindler. "A Muslim woman, her leadership and its costs". The Washington Times.
• Theodore Dalrymple. "A feminist for the ages ..." The Globe and Mail.

Interviews on book

• Joel Whitney. "Infidel - An interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali". Guernica Magazine. Archived from the original on 2009-10-15. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
• Carole Zimmer. "How `Infidel' Hirsi Ali Rejected Islam, Survived Death Threats". Bloomberg.
• Tom Ashbrook. "Ayaan Hirsi Ali". On Point.
• William C. Mann. "Critic of Islam finds new home in U.S." Associated Press.
• Laurie Goodstein (February 4, 2007). "Enter the Dutch 'Infidel,' Faithful to Herself". The New York Times. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
• Penny Wark (January 31, 2007). "My life as an infidel". The Times. London. Archived from the original on February 19, 2007. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
• Deroy Murdock. "Who Says "Ladies First"?". National Review Online. Archived from the original on 2007-02-04. Retrieved 2007-02-08.