C-Span's "Book TV" Airs Program Originating from the Arab American National Museum on Sunday, January 10th

posted on: Jan 5, 2010

There was a standing-room-only audience at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan on December 10 when author Alia Malek came to speak about her new book, A Country Called Amreeka: Arab Roots, American Stories (Free Press; 2009; $25), which revisits key moments in recent American history as experienced by Arab Americans.

C-SPAN2 cameras were there, and at 5:15 p.m. Eastern this Sunday, January 10, Malek’s talk will premiere on the cable channel’s “Book TV” program. (Consult your cable provider’s channel guide to locate C-SPAN2 in your area). The program will re-air several times; visit www.booktv.org for weekly schedules.

In A Country Called Amreeka, Malek weaves the stories of the Arab American community into the story of America, using lively and moving narratives of real people, including several metro Detroit residents, who have lived history all around the country. Among the book’s metro Detroit subjects are Ron Amen, recently appointed development director for the City of Dearborn Heights; Ahmad Chebbani, chairman of the Dearborn-based American Arab Chamber of Commerce; Amal Berry-Brown of Comerica Bank; and attorneys Michael Berry and Bill Swor.

Alia Malek is an author and civil rights lawyer. Born in Baltimore to Syrian immigrant parents, she began her legal career as a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. After working in the legal field in the U.S., Lebanon and the West Bank, Malek, who has degrees from Johns Hopkins and Georgetown Universities, earned her master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. Her reportage has appeared in Salon, The Columbia Journalism Review and The New York Times. A Country Called Amreeka is her first book.

Further details are available at www.ACountryCalledAmreeka.com.