Piece Comment

Review of "Good Muslims, Great Americans"


As a Canadian I couldn't resist listening to this, given the conflict and struggle that America has had in recent history. I was hoping for a reflective and hopeful piece, and I found it to be both. I was fully engaged listening to personal accounts of being Muslim in the military, and discovered the pride, as well as conflicted emotions, of American-born Muslim veterans. An historical audio clip of Eisenhower embracing Muslims into American mainstream culture, added a wonderfully tolerant juxtaposition to the dominant religious viewpoints of today. The ending is slightyly abrupt, and could use an extro, but it doesn't detract from the overall quality of the work. At a time when American and MIlitary are practically synomymous, this was a thoughtful, intelligent and human piece about some of the ups and downs of being Other.