Now in trade paperback, this compelling, critically acclaimed memoir has been a #1 bestseller in Europe, 11 weeks on the NYT bestseller list (as high as #3) and over a month on the Extended list, appeared on the WSJ and other national lists, and received an enormous publicity push in the U.S. Internationally renowned charismatic reformer and sought-after speaker Ayaan Hirsi Ali has been targeted to be murdered for her outspoken efforts to reform Islam and protect Muslim women from violence, repression, and mutilation. In this vivid narrative, she tells her astonishing life story: her childhood in Somalia, her intellectual awakening in Saudi Arabia, and her escape to the West.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, was raised Muslim, and spent her childhood and young adulthood in Africa and Saudi Arabia. In 1992, Hirsi Ali came to the Netherlands as a refugee. She earned her college degree in political science and worked for the Dutch Labor party. She denounced Islam after the September 11 terrorist attacks and now serves as a Dutch parliamentarian, fighting for the rights of Muslim women in Europe, the enlightenment of Islam, and security in the West.