Infidel

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-Dutch politician and activist, tells her own story in an autobiography that runs from a dutiful, obedient girlhood to life as an outspoken public figure. She writes about a youth spent in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Kenya, her escape to the Netherlands and her request there for political asylum, and her university years in Leiden. She covers her time in the Labour Party, then joining the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and winning a seat in Parliament, and the killing of Theo van Gogh, her partner on the film Submission. The account ends with the controversy over her asylum application and the status of her citizenship.

Neuroscientist Sam Harris included it in his selection of 12 books everyone should read.