Overview

This “moving [and] wonderful” memoir by the Muslim American Gold Star father, captivating DNC speaker, and 2022 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient is “a story about family and faith [that] can teach all of us what real American patriotism looks like” (The New York Times Book Review).   “[Khizr] Khan offers a valuable perspective as we continue to debate what kind of country we want to be.”—The Washington Post (Best Books of the Year)   Khizr Khan electrified viewers around the world when he took the stage at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. And when he offered to lend Donald Trump his own much-read and dog-eared pocket Constitution, his gesture perfectly encapsulated the feelings of millions.   In this urgent and timeless immigrant story, Khan shares the extraordinary, ordinary journey that led him to that moment: He was the oldest of ten children born to farmers in Pakistan. He was a university student who read the Declaration of Independence and was awestruck by what might be possible in life. He was a hopeful suitor, awkwardly but earnestly trying to win the heart of a woman far out of his league. He was a loving father who, having instilled in his children the ideals that enticed him and his wife to America, tragically lost his son, an Army captain, in the Iraq War. He was and is a patriot, and a fierce advocate for the values enshrined in the American system.    An American Family shows us who Khizr Khan and millions of other American immigrants are, and why—especially in these tumultuous times—we must not be afraid to step forward for what we believe in when it matters most.

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9780399592515

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Reviews

I'd like to say to Mr. and Mrs. Khan: Thank you for immigrating to America. We're a better country because of you. And you are certainly right; your son was the best of America, and the memory of his sacrifice will make us a better nation-and he will never be forgotten. -Senator John McCain A small but lovely immigrant's journey, full of carefully-observed details from the order in which Ghazala served tea at a university event, to the schedule of the police patrols in the Boston Public Garden where Khan briefly slept while he was in between apartments, to the description of Humayun's headstone as a 'slab of white marble with soft streaks the color of wood smoke.' . . . Most importantly, the book is an effective argument for the depth of Khan's love for and knowledge of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the amendments to it. He emerges as such an eloquent advocate for both documents, and for American values, that I finished An American Family with my own sense of patriotism and sense of civic obligation revitalized. -Alyssa Rosenberg, The Washington Post Part autobiography, part civics lesson . . . and part patriotic message about the goodness of all Americans. -BuzzFeed [A] wide- eyed and eloquent memoir . . . A sense of wonder about America's promise peppers the entire narrative, even as he recounts his early struggles in the country while supporting his wife and three boys. . . . This account is especially resonant now. -Booklist Sometimes it takes a newcomer to point out the beauty that old- timers take for granted. America, more than any other country, was founded upon ideals: individual freedoms, equal protection and due process of law. Khan reminds us that these ideals are worth fighting-and even dying-for. The Khans truly are the most American of families. -BookPage An American Family holds its own alongside other fine memoirs of immigration and would be an inspired addition to any college or high school syllabus. The Gold Star father who spoke so movingly at the 2016 Democratic National Convention is just as affecting on the page. -Shelf Awareness (starred review) Khan's aspirational memoir reminds us all why Americans should welcome newcomers from all lands. -Kirkus Reviews

An American Family is a small but lovely immigrant's journey, full of carefully observed details from the order in which Ghazala served tea at a university event, to the schedule of the police patrols in the Boston Public Garden where Khan briefly slept while he was in between apartments, to the description of Humayun's headstone as a 'slab of white marble with soft streaks the color of wood smoke.'. . . Most importantly, the book is an effective argument for the depth of Khan's love for and knowledge of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the amendments to it. He emerges as such an eloquent advocate for both documents, and for American values, that I finished An American Family with my own sense of patriotism and sense of civic obligation revitalized. -Alyssa Rosenberg, The Washington Post [A] moving memoir . . . a story about family and faith, told with a poet's sensibility . . . The book is a wonderful refutation of Trump's nativism and bigotry, but it is no partisan polemic. . . . Khizr Khan's book can teach all of us what real American patriotism looks like. -The New York Times Book Review [A] wide-eyed and eloquent memoir . . . A sense of wonder about America's promise peppers the entire narrative, even as [Khan] recounts his early struggles in the country while supporting his wife and three boys. . . . The account is especially resonant now. -Booklist Sometimes it takes a newcomer to point out the beauty that old-timers take for granted. America, more than any other country, was founded upon ideals: individual freedoms, equal protection and due process of law. Khan reminds us that these ideals are worth fighting-and even dying-for. The Khans truly are the most American of families. -BookPage An American Family holds its own alongside other fine memoirs of immigration and would be an inspired addition to any college or high school syllabus. The Gold Star father who spoke so movingly at the 2016 Democratic National Convention is just as affecting on the page. -Shelf Awareness (starred review) Self-effacing, the author writes movingly . . . Khan's aspirational memoir reminds us all why Americans should welcome newcomers from all lands. -Kirkus Reviews

An American Family is a small but lovely immigrant's journey, full of carefully observed details from the order in which Ghazala served tea at a university event, to the schedule of the police patrols in the Boston Public Garden where Khan briefly slept while he was in between apartments, to the description of Humayun's headstone as a 'slab of white marble with soft streaks the color of wood smoke.'. . . Most importantly, the book is an effective argument for the depth of Khan's love for and knowledge of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the amendments to it. He emerges as such an eloquent advocate for both documents, and for American values, that I finished An American Family with my own sense of patriotism and sense of civic obligation revitalized. --Alyssa Rosenberg, The Washington Post [A] moving memoir . . . a story about family and faith, told with a poet's sensibility . . . The book is a wonderful refutation of Trump's nativism and bigotry, but it is no partisan polemic. . . . Khizr Khan's book can teach all of us what real American patriotism looks like. --The New York Times Book Review [A] wide-eyed and eloquent memoir . . . A sense of wonder about America's promise peppers the entire narrative, even as [Khan] recounts his early struggles in the country while supporting his wife and three boys. . . . The account is especially resonant now. --Booklist Sometimes it takes a newcomer to point out the beauty that old-timers take for granted. America, more than any other country, was founded upon ideals: individual freedoms, equal protection and due process of law. Khan reminds us that these ideals are worth fighting--and even dying--for. The Khans truly are the most American of families. --BookPage An American Family holds its own alongside other fine memoirs of immigration and would be an inspired addition to any college or high school syllabus. The Gold Star father who spoke so movingly at the 2016 Democratic National Convention is just as affecting on the page. --Shelf Awareness (starred review) Self-effacing, the author writes movingly . . . Khan's aspirational memoir reminds us all why Americans should welcome newcomers from all lands. --Kirkus Reviews

Author Information

Khizr Khan was born in 1950, the eldest of ten children, in rural Pakistan. He moved to the United States with his wife Ghazala, in 1980. The couple became American citizens and raised their three sons in Silver Spring, Maryland. Their middle son, U.S. army captain Humayun Khan, a graduate of the University of Virginia and its Army ROTC program, was killed in 2004 while stopping a suicide attack near Baqubah, Iraq. He was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. Khizr Khan holds a BA degree from Punjab University, an LLB from Punjab University Law College, and an LLM from Harvard Law School. He is a member of the bar of the United States Supreme Court; the Washington, D.C., State Bar; the New York State Bar; and the American Bar Association. The focus of Khan's legal practice is on complex civil litigation, electronic discovery, health privacy compliance law, and civil rights and veterans' rights advocacy. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022. He and Ghazala live in Charlottesville, Virginia.

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