Abdi Nor Iftin first fell in love with America from afar. As a child, he learned English by listening to American pop and watching action movies starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. When U.S. marines arrived in Mogadishu to take on the warlords, Abdi cheered the introduction of these Americans, who appeared as heroic as those of the films.

Sporting American clothing and dance moves, he became known around Mogadishu as Abdi American, however when the radical Islamist group al-Shabaab increased to power in 2006, it about Call Me American: A Memoir became harmful to celebrate Traditional western culture. Desperate to produce a living, Abdi utilized his language skills to post secret dispatches, which discovered an target audience of world-wide listeners. Ultimately, though, Abdi was pressured to flee to Kenya.

Within an amazing heart stroke of good fortune, Abdi won entry towards the U.S. in the annual visa lottery, though his path to America didn’t come easily. Parts of his story were first noticed on the BBC World Service which American Life. Today a proud resident of Maine, on the path to citizenship, Abdi Nor Iftin’s dramatic, deeply stirring memoir is truly a story for our time: a vivid reminder of why America still beckons to people seeking to make a better life.