In his effort to free Americans from British colonization, Thomas Jefferson pointed out the difference between an American citizen and a British subject. The difference therefore marked who was American and who was un-American. Since then within the United States the term ‘un-American’ has become increasingly popular. During the McCarthy era in the Cold War period there was a hunt for those who were ‘un-American’. During the Bush administration’s ‘War on Terror’, ‘un-American’ became a marker for Americans who opposed U.S. foreign policy. On January 27, 2017, President Trump’s executive order on ‘Muslim ban’ from entering the United States from seven predominantly Muslim countries, once again resumed the debate whether President Trump’s ‘order’ should be considered ‘un-American’.

Though the term, ‘un-American’ has political connotations, in her recent book, Muslim Americans: Debating the Notions of American and Un-American, Nahid Kabir engaged with the term in dialogue with young American Muslims in the years preceding the Trump administration.  As the author undertakes a rigorous questioning of what it means to be American and un-American in the contemporary American society, she discovers its interpretation upon historical, cultural, sociological and political foundations. Her book is based on 400 in-depth interviews with Muslim Americans (aged 15 years and over), from seven states: Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, Maryland, Florida, Michigan and New Jersey.