{"product_id":"the-white-mosque-a-memoir-paperback","title":"The White Mosque: A Memoir - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eSofia Samatar\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLonglisted for the PEN\/Jean Stein Book Award \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA historical tapestry of border-crossing travelers, of students, wanderers, martyrs and invaders, \u003ci\u003eThe White Mosque\u003c\/i\u003e is a memoiristic, prismatic record of a journey through Uzbekistan and of the strange shifts, encounters, and accidents that combine to create an identity \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the late nineteenth century, a group of German-speaking Mennonites traveled from Russia into Central Asia, where their charismatic leader predicted Christ would return. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOver a century later, Sofia Samatar joins a tour following their path, fascinated not by the hardships of their journey, but by its aftermath: the establishment of a small Christian village in the Muslim Khanate of Khiva. Named Ak Metchet, \"The White Mosque,\" after the Mennonites' whitewashed church, the village lasted for fifty years. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn pursuit of this curious history, Samatar discovers a variety of characters whose lives intersect around the ancient Silk Road, from a fifteenth-century astronomer-king, to an intrepid Swiss woman traveler of the 1930s, to the first Uzbek photographer, and explores such topics as Central Asian cinema, Mennonite martyrs, and Samatar's own complex upbringing as the daughter of a Swiss-Mennonite and a Somali-Muslim, raised as a Mennonite of color in America. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA secular pilgrimage to a lost village and a near-forgotten history, \u003ci\u003eThe White Mosque\u003c\/i\u003e traces the porous and ever-expanding borders of identity, asking: How do we enter the stories of others? And how, out of the tissue of life, with its weird incidents, buried archives, and startling connections, does a person construct a self?\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eSOFIA SAMATAR is the author of the novels \u003ci\u003eA Stranger in Olondria\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Winged Histories\u003c\/i\u003e, the short story collection, \u003ci\u003eTender\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eMonster Portraits\u003c\/i\u003e, a collaboration with her brother, the artist Del Samatar. Sofia's work has received the William L. Crawford Award, the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, the British Fantasy Award, and the World Fantasy Award. She has also been a finalist for the Locus Award, the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Italo Calvino Prize. Her work has appeared in several year's-best anthologies, including \u003ci\u003eThe Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy\u003c\/i\u003e. Sofia holds a PhD in African Languages and Literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and she currently teaches African literature, Arabic literature in translation, world literature, and speculative fiction at James Madison University.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 336\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.87 x 8.19 x 5.43 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e December 05, 2023\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51764827160864,"sku":"9781646222032","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/3ad48b8381afa63a8e2f722fc9ecf811.webp?v=1780255846","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/the-white-mosque-a-memoir-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}