Sofia Ali-Khan is a writer and an accomplished public-interest attorney. She has worked for Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, Prairie State Legal Services in Illinois, and the American Bar Association. She became a national leader on the right to language access and also practiced in the areas of welfare law, Medicaid access, immigration, and community economic development. She was a founding board member and activist with the Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). A second-generation Pakistani American born and raised in the United States, Ali-Khan now lives in Ontario, Canada, with her family.
“Sofia Ali-Khan’s A Good Country beautifully weaves together history and deeply personal narrative as it unwinds the classic immigrant belief in the ‘American Dream.’ . . . Compelling, enjoyable, engaging, and so full of purpose and conviction.”—R. Cielo Cruz, Southern racial justice activist, educator, and writer “In this captivating portrait of America, Sofia Ali-Khan makes the case that a ‘good country,’ as her immigrant parents would call their new home, should be strong enough to confront its past. At a time when many would rather ban or bury the truth, Ali-Khan bravely faces it in this bracing and necessary book.”—Ayad Akhtar, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Homeland Elegies “How can a book with such hard truths be so beautiful? Sofia Ali-Khan has woven the search for her identity and home with an exploration of racism and economic exploitation at the center of the American myth. This book should be in the curriculum for every high school senior.”—Suzanne Pharr, co-founder of Southerners on New Ground (SONG) and author of Transformation: Toward a People’s Democracy “Readers of this powerful memoir will benefit from Ali-Khan’s brave soul-searching, comprehensive research, and beautiful storytelling.”—Priscilla Warner, New York Times bestselling author of The Faith Club “A stunning and beautiful memoir of the author’s experience as a Muslim woman in a post-9/11, post-Trump America. Interweaves the personal and the political . . . an enthralling illumination of how history persists to shape present-day relations.”—Lisa Stampnitzky, PhD, lecturer in politics at the University of Sheffield and author of Disciplining Terror: How Experts Invented “Terrorism” “Both memoir and historical narrative, A Good Country is an American story about an American dream reserved for White people living on stolen land. . . . Sometimes the journey to fighting oppression means escaping from an inhospitable if not burning house. Sofia Ali-Khan has arrived at the right time.”—David A. Love, JD, professor, journalist, and contributing author to the New York Times bestseller Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America 1619–2019