National Book Critics Circle Award Winner for Autobiography: âA powerful story of the meaning of family and tradition inside a little-known cultureâ (San Francisco Chronicle). In a remote corner of the world, forgotten for nearly three thousand years, lived an enclave of Kurdish Jews so isolated that they still spoke Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Mostly illiterate, they were self-made mystics, gifted storytellers, and humble peddlers who dwelt in harmony with their Muslim and Christian neighbors in the mountains of northern Iraq. To these descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Yona Sabar was born. Yonaâs son, Ariel, grew up in Los Angeles, where Yona had become an esteemed professor, dedicating his career to preserving his peopleâs traditions. Ariel wanted nothing to do with his fatherâs strange immigrant heritageâuntil he had a son of his own. Ariel Sabar brings to life the ancient town of Zakho, discovering his familyâs place in the sweeping saga of Middle Eastern history. This powerful book is an improbable story of tolerance and hope set in what today is the very center of the worldâs attention. âGraceful and resonant . . . A personal undertaking for a son who admits he never understood his unassuming, penny-pinching immigrant father.â âThe New York Times Book Review âSabarâs family history turns out to be more than the chronicle of one manâs efforts to retain something of his homeland in new surroundings. Itâs also a moving story about the near-death of an ancient language and the tiny flicker of life that remains in it.â âThe Washington Post Book World âOne of the best recent memoirs Iâve read.â âThe Huffington Post
Price history
Nov 26, 2022
€14.84