Tamim Ansary (Author of Destiny Disrupted)

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Tamim Ansary

欧宝娱乐 Author

Born

in Kabul, Afghanistan

Website

Genre

History, Memoir

Member Since

June 2014

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Mir Tamim Ansary is an Afghan-American author and public speaker. Ansary gained prominence in 2001 after he penned a widely circulated e-mail that denounced the Taliban but warned of the dangers of a military intervention by the United States. The e-mail was a response to a call to bomb Afghanistan "into the Stone Age." His book West of Kabul, East of New York published shortly after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, is a literary memoir recounting his bicultural perspective on contemporary world conflicts. Ansary writes about Islam, Afghanistan, and history. His book Destiny Disrupted retells the history of the world through Islamic eyes. His new book The Invention of Yesterday explores the role of narrative as a force in world his ...more

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Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Tamim Ansary Ten years ago, I published a book called Destiny Disrupted, A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes. Basically, I was arguing that world history i鈥辞谤别Ten years ago, I published a book called Destiny Disrupted, A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes. Basically, I was arguing that world history is the story of how we got to where we are today, but embedded in that narrative is always an assumption about who constitutes the 鈥渨e.鈥� I hoped to illustrate this point by showing how, if you assumed the center of the world to be the Islamic heartland rather than Europe and its offshoots, the history of the world looks completely different, even though it may contain many of the same events. The shape of the story depends on the teller of the tale. But after that book came out, it struck me that today, with pretty much everyone on the planet all up inside one another's business, it might be possible to construct a history of the world from the perspective of a global 鈥渨e鈥�. So that's what I set out to do. The Invention of Yesterday is what I came up with--a history of the world that looks at ever-increasing interconnectedness (with all its discontents) as the throughline of human history. (less)

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Do you think that the current peace negotiations happening in Qatar between the Taliban and the U.S. could 1.) curtail the social gains made in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban government, and/or 2.) greatly impair the overall effectiveness of the central Afghan government if the Taliban were able to reach some sort of an agreement? (Finally, I just want to say that I strongly admired your books! Thank you!)

Tamim Ansary That's a complicated question. Aren't they all. Regarding the curtailment of social gains, my simple answer would be: yes. If Taliban-types take real 鈥辞谤别That's a complicated question. Aren't they all. Regarding the curtailment of social gains, my simple answer would be: yes. If Taliban-types take real power, they will try to roll back women's rights, drive women out of public life, and reinstate the most reactionary interpretation of the Islamic shari'a. But there's another side to the coin: war tends not to go with real progressive social change. Social change that matters comes from within a society, not from outside forces imposing progress by force. And the progressive impulse exists in Afghanistan, it's a force too. Afghan women should not be seen as objects of pity but as subjects to be admired. The progressive side of Afghan culture, mostly urban, is just as tough as the rural reactionaries. The most dramatic period of social change in Afghanistan was not the 19 years since the fall of the Taliban; it was, by far, the 19 years from 1959 to 1978, when Afghanistan was pretty much at peace and under sovereign Afghan rule. Left to themselves, ruled by themselves, Afghans were making staggering strides. Then came the Soviet invasion and all that followed and by 2,000 the country was buried in a nightmare of reactionary darkness. So peace, I'd say, is essential to progressive social change. If the meetings in Qatar bring real peace, there's no predicting how the struggle between progress and reaction will go in Afghanistan. But let me complicate the question one step more. The term "Taliban" is often used as if referred to a certain organized group with a particular program. Really, it's more like an umbrella term for a social demographic within Afghan culture. It would be more accurate, if more clumsy, to use a term like "reactionary Islamism rooted in rural culture," Quasi-organized groups of that description abound and which of them answer to which others is, I believe, an open question. Therefore, when we speak of peace negotiations between "the" Taliban and the U.S. we must ask: which Taliban? And over whom do these particular Taliban have actual authority back in Afghanistan? Finally, I'd be surprised if these negotiations lead to a real peace deal. The thing is, Taliban of all stripes have one non-negotiable demand: a complete U.S. withdrawal from the country. And while some reports make it seem like U.S. involvement in Afghanistan is in fact winding down as troops are removed, there are private military contractors swarming in to replace those troops, a foreign army of a different kind. Also, since the Obama years, drone warfare has taken over from boots-on-the-ground soldiers as the military tactic of choice. So number of troops is no longer really a measure of military involvement.
Since the U.S. has two major air bases in Afghanistan, from which U.S. airplanes can reach Moscow, Tehran, Delhi, and Beijing, I'd be surprised if U.S. negotiators agree to an actual military withdrawal that results in the loss of those bases. So, I guess my answer is: we'll see. (And hey: thanks for the comment about my books.) (less)

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Average rating: 4.29 · 18,303 ratings · 2,522 reviews · 34 distinct works 鈥� Similar authors

	Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes 4.40 avg rating — 11,624 ratings — published 2009 — 50 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Games Without Rules: The Often Interrupted History of Afghanistan 4.38 avg rating — 1,583 ratings — published 2012 — 21 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	West of Kabul, East of New York: An Afghan American Story 3.89 avg rating — 1,719 ratings — published 2002 — 28 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Invention of Yesterday: A 50,000-Year History of Human Culture, Conflict, and Connection 4.29 avg rating — 1,145 ratings — published 2019 — 19 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Widow's Husband 4.31 avg rating — 86 ratings — published 2009 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Road Trips: Becoming an American in the Vapor Trail of the Sixties 4.53 avg rating — 32 ratings — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Snapshots: This Afghan American Life by Tamim Ansary (欧宝娱乐 Author), Yalda Asmatey (Editor), Bismillah Iqbal (Illustrator) 4.08 avg rating — 12 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sinking the Ark by Tamim Ansary (欧宝娱乐 Author), Justin Donica (Illustrator) 4.67 avg rating — 6 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Truther Narratives: Conspiracy Theory Explained. What it is. How it forms. Why it spreads. 4.33 avg rating — 3 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mysterious Places really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Tamim Ansary rated a book really liked it Wildflowers by Beverly Parayno (欧宝娱乐 Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Parayno writes with authority: her understated language somehow intensifies the sense of dislocation, solitude, and longing in these nine poignant stories. The first one is from a child's point of view; each subsequent story drops you into the life o ...more
Jul 01, 2023 11:52AM · 5 likes · like · see review

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Quotes by Tamim Ansary (?)

“We need solitude, because when we're alone, we're free from obligations, we don't need to put on a show, and we can hear our own thoughts.”
― Tamim Ansary, West of Kabul, East of New York: An Afghan American Story

tags: alone, alone-time, solitude

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“Here are two enormous worlds side by side; what's remarkable is how little notice they have taken of each other. If the Western and Islamic worlds were two individual human beings, we might see symptoms of repression here. We might ask, "What happened between these two? Were they lovers once? Is there some history of abuse?”
― Tamim Ansary, Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World through Islamic Eyes

tags: islamic-world, western-world

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“One side charges, 'You are decadent.' The other side retorts, 'We are free.' These are not opposing contentions; they're nonsequiturs.”
― Tamim Ansary, Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World through Islamic Eyes

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Polls

Vote for the February / March 2025 BotMs

The top two vote recipients will become the Books of the Month for the period in question. Please vote for a book only if you can access it in time, and plan to contribute to the discussion.

Messalina: Empress, Adulteress, Libertine: The Story of the Most Notorious Woman of the Roman World
by Honor Cargill-Martin

27 votes, 23.3%

Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout
by Cal Newport

26 votes, 22.4%

The Sing Sing Files: One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and a Twenty-Year Fight for Justice
by Dan Slepian

21 votes, 18.1%

Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes
by Tamim Ansary

21 votes, 18.1%

An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s
by Doris Kearns Goodwin

19 votes, 16.4%

Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church
by Eliza Griswold

2 votes, 1.7%

116 total votes

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