Preview
  • Go Back to Where You Came From

  • And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become an American
  • By: Wajahat Ali
  • Narrated by: Wajahat Ali
  • Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (294 ratings)

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Go Back to Where You Came From

By: Wajahat Ali
Narrated by: Wajahat Ali
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Publisher's summary

“Go back to where you came from, you terrorist!”

This is just one of the many warm, lovely, and helpful tips that Wajahat Ali and other children of immigrants receive on a daily basis. Go back where, exactly? Fremont, California, where he grew up but is now an unaffordable place to live? Or Pakistan, the country his parents left behind a half-century ago?

Growing up living the suburban American dream, young Wajahat devoured comic books (devoid of Brown superheroes) and fielded well-intentioned advice from uncles and aunties. (“Become a doctor!”) He had turmeric stains under his fingernails, was accident-prone, suffered from OCD, and wore husky pants, but he was as American as his neighbors, with roots all over the world. Then, while Ali was studying at University of California, Berkeley, 9/11 happened. Muslims replaced communists as America’s enemy number one, and he became an accidental spokesman and ambassador of all ordinary, unthreatening things Muslim-y.

Now a middle-aged dad, Ali has become one of the foremost and funniest public intellectuals in America. In Go Back to Where You Came From, he tackles the dangers of Islamophobia, white supremacy, and chocolate hummus, peppering personal stories with astute insights into national security, immigration, and pop culture. In this refreshingly bold, hopeful, and uproarious memoir, Ali offers indispensable lessons for cultivating a more compassionate, inclusive, and delicious America.

©2022 Wajahat Ali (P)2022 Recorded Books
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What listeners say about Go Back to Where You Came From

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Wajahat Ali Go Back to Where You Came From

He tells a great, entertaining story that makes you think about our injustices and opportunities.

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Good book

It’s a great book for emigrant Muslim kids,to give them hope that they can be successful

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Engaging story and nice sentiment

This is a really interesting story and I really appreciated his insight and clear voice about his life, and our lives as Americans.

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a peek from the other side

enlightening and energetic Vietnam of a very human experience. very honest
and open! loved it!

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Excellent

Please read this book. It is an excellent memoir. Wajahat gives us universal truths by sharing his very personal story.

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Brilliant!

What a great story of hope! Why are we, the privileged, so afraid of allowing hope to ALL. This book will hopefully inspire us to open our hearts.

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Heart warming, hilarious, and honest!

Loved this beautiful story and heartwarming journey. Critical race theory meets Spiderman!
I hope you enjoy it, God willing.

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Moving, funny, insightful, enlightening

This book introduced me to a beautiful culture and a person with deep insight into America. Ali shared his story of living through events of calamity and poor health with faith and surprising optimism.

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Awesome book! Funny author

As a brown person living in America, this book hit so many sore spots for me with humor. Despite being born in America, your skin tone can still mark you as "other" and you will feel like you don't belong in your own country. This book helped explain that feeling and show the way even people who mean well, can still get it wrong. I am not Muslim, but this book also helped me understand what so many Muslims in America have been feeling for so long. This book is funny and much needed right now. Highly recommend!

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Don’t Not listen to this!

I laughed and cried through this one. An amazing story and so on point. Total fan of the writer now!

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1 person found this helpful