Wednesday, November 18, 2015

A lost book about the Nation of Islam

This morning, while scrolling through the NOI's old newspaper, Muhammad Speaks, I came across the following article in the February 1962 issue:








What made this piece especially interesting to me is the fact that I knew of the author being discussed. Hans Stefan Santesson had been working with the immigrant South Asian Muslim community in New York since the 1930s, and was even friends with prominent white convert to Islam Louis Glick--all of which I mention in my recent book about early white converts.

Unfortunately, Santesson's book about the NOI is not listed under his name in Worldcat or at the NYPL (the library most likely to have a copy). Since we aren't given the book's title, I Googled the phrases from its press release, as quoted in the above article, but, again, to no results. It's looking like the book, if it was even completed, may never have been officially released.

If a copy does exist, however, given Santesson's knowledge of New York and Muslims, and his interest in science fiction and fantasy, I suspect the book may have some valuable insights.  

Hopefully, someone someday will stumble across this gem.

Monday, November 2, 2015