The True American

Murder and Mercy in Texas

By: Anand Giridharadas

Narrated by: Anand Giridharadas

Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Imagine that a terrorist tried to kill you. If you could face him again, on your terms, what would you do?

The True American tells the story of Raisuddin Bhuiyan, a Bangladesh Air Force officer who dreams of immigrating to America and working in technology. But days after 9/11, an avowed "American terrorist" named Mark Stroman, seeking revenge, walks into the Dallas minimart where Bhuiyan has found temporary work and shoots him, maiming and nearly killing him. Two other victims, at other gas stations, aren't so lucky, dying at once.

The True American traces the making of these two men, Stroman and Bhuiyan, and of their fateful encounter. It follows them as they rebuild shattered lives - one striving on Death Row to become a better man, the other to heal and pull himself up from the lowest rung on the ladder of an unfamiliar country.

Ten years after the shooting, an Islamic pilgrimage seeds in Bhuiyan a strange idea: if he is ever to be whole, he must reenter Stroman's life. He longs to confront Stroman and speak to him about the attack that changed their lives. Bhuiyan publicly forgives Stroman, in the name of his religion and its notion of mercy. Then he wages a legal and PR campaign, against the State of Texas and Governor Rick Perry, to have his attacker spared from the death penalty.

Ranging from Texas's juvenile justice system to the swirling crowd of pilgrims at the Hajj in Mecca; from a biker bar to an immigrant mosque in Dallas; from young military cadets in Bangladesh to elite paratroopers in Israel; from a wealthy household of chicken importers in Karachi, Pakistan; to the sober residences of Brownwood, Texas, The True American is a rich, colorful, profoundly moving exploration of the American dream in its many dimensions. Ultimately, it tells a story about our love-hate relationship with immigrants, about the encounter between Islam and the West, about how - or whether - we choose what we become.

©2014 Anand Giridharadas (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Great story, a bit padded

The story is great but it feels padded out for length. There is so much extra information that more loose ends are created. I want more because there's so much here. It would have been better if narrowed down a bit.

The narration is clear and easy to follow with the author changing his voice slightly for each person's dialogue to avoid much confusion. My only complaint on the narration is his speed. I kept it on 1.25× speed all the way through because he spoke so slowly. It felt more natural this way. It is an easy fix and you will get through the story a bit faster which is good if you don't have much time to read it.

I recommend the book because it has a powerful message that is important in this time in America.

Loved the story! life changing!

i loved this story and the narrator was awesome! the book actually made me cry, but some of the back stories were irrelevant, although mind altering!

Heart wrenching

Anand Giridharadas brings an incredibly complex piece of history to us with in this book. The story brought me to tears and downright sobbing at times and also overwhelmed me with joy, with Rais’ love for his mother and humanity, as wretched as we are. I cried the Stromons, for Rais and his family and many times just had to stop and rest from the book. I recommend this as required reading in helping to understand racism, white supremacy and the decay of family.

moving sad story

very much worth a credit. racism and hate eventually give way to forgiveness and beauty.

Heart wrenching and inspirational at the same time.

A great story of the American dream, and what’s so wrong with so much of America today.

What an inspiring story in a selfish country

in this country full of selfishness, it's rare to forgive to this extent. great lesson

Wonderful slice of life story

This is a wonderful yet tragic slice of life story about a white bigot and a Muslim. The story is nicely detailed and shows the backgrounds of the main characters and how they came to intersect. Great unsensational narration - perfect for the subject matter.

Imporetant moving read

What did you like best about this story?

I enjoyed the intertwining stories, what made these two men take the paths they did.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It actually made me uncomfortable. What brought these men to this place? What are their families like now? While I cannot say that I would have made the decisions Rais did, I understand the place he came from. My Christian faith also extols forgiveness.

Any additional comments?

This is an important read. It does ask more questions than it answers, but I loved it for its messiness and non-preachy look at some pretty intense topics - nature vs. nurture, religion, terrorism, patriotism...
Well worth your time and credit!

Great story, lackluster but well spoken narrator

There was never emotion in the narrators voice. This was especially world breaking when it was clear the character was sobbing, but the narrator spoke as if normal conversation. I realize that isn't a theatrical reading, but it would have been nice for a bit more expression. Besides that the narrator was well spoken with very clear annunciation and attempted accents very lightly here and there.

US AND THEM

A deplorable habit of human nature is to classify humanity into us and them. “The True American” is a news reporter’s story of two Texas murders and one wounding of three presumed Middle Eastern people living and working in America after 9/11/01. In fact, the three victims were Bangladeshi, Indian, and Pakistani with Asian rather than Middle Eastern origins. “The True American” is the story of an incident of murder and mayhem that tests Texas’s death penalty and exposes human nature’s habit of “us and them” categorization of human beings.

The Texas’ murders are a lesser-scale recapitulation of the delusions and horror of 9/11. Though only two human beings, rather than nearly 3,000, are murdered in this Texas incident–both horrific events are motivated by delusions of revenge and belief in “us and them” categories. Anand Giridharadas’ book is about “us and them” choices human beings make every day. The year 2015 shows three examples of “us and them” beliefs in America: 1) a presidential candidate’s categorization of illegal Mexican’ immigrants as murderers and rapists, 2) a white man’s slaughter of nine Americans because they are Black, and 3) a Muslims’ murder of five men because they are American’ soldiers.

The focus of Giridharadas’ book is the maiming of Raisuddin “Rais” Bhuiyan, an aspiring American emigre from Bangladesh, who is shot in the face by Mark Anthony Stroman. Stroman murders two and maims Rais Bhuiyan, because he sees himself as a part of “us” (Americans) and his victims a part of “them” (Arab terrorists). Like a presidential candidate’s slander of Mexicans, a white man’s slaughter of Blacks, and a Muslim’s murder of soldiers in 2015, Stroman believes anyone that looks like “them” is not worthy of “us”. Bhuiyan’s life is an enemy of “us” to Stroman because he is avenging destruction of the World Trade Center in New York. To Stroman, Bhuiyan and two un-related Asians are terrorists because of the color of their skin.