The Sheikh's Batmobile

Praise

“With insight, humor, and compassion, The Sheikh’s Batmobile puts a nail in the coffin of ‘Clash of Civilizations’ theory. The author and subjects are equally human. If you see Ayaan Hirsi Ali, throw this book at her. –Michael Muhammad Knight, author of Journey to the End of Islam

“I would read Poplak if he wrote about watching paint dry. He is a gifted addition to the exploding and increasingly sloppy literary non-fiction genre. Dark, funny, self-deprecating and poetic, Poplak is a punk Graham Greene both exploiting and being exploited by the cultures he inhabits.” —The Globe and Mail

“A heroic feat of research, analysis, and on-the-ground reportage . . . At the very least, The Sheikh’s Batmobile should shatter the Western stereotype of the Muslim world as repressive and stagnant.” —Quill and Quire

“Poplak avoids making easy connections . . . his de-embedded journalism is always open-minded and captures the uncanny perfectly.” —Eye Weekly

“Humorous, astute and vivid . . . Poplak’s view of popculture is nuanced, as it emerges as a mutating entity crossing national and ideological boundaries.” —The Coast

“This is a great book and despite its lighthearted title and subject matter it’s a serious book. It’s an important book too, because it promotes understanding and leaves the reader with hope that at a human level, and at a creative level, the kids are all right.” —Winnipeg Free Press

“The book is not a magnifying glass searching for Western brushstrokes on an Islamic canvas, but rather a kaleidoscope that bounces the reader’s assumptions and expectations off the colorful mirrors of zestful narrative and impressive legwork.” —Wiretap Magazine

“A fast-paced and culturally savvy look at a section of the Muslim population underrepresented, if not entirely ignored, by Western media.” —Open Book: Toronto

“In the riotous, fearless, and very funny tradition of Hunter S. Thompson and Jon Ronson, Richard Poplak takes us through the looking glass and into an upside down, funhouse mirror pop culture universe where Homer Simpson drinks juice out of a beer can, batmobiles are custom-designed in a desert lair and Islamic children spontaneously recreate the video for Lionel Richie’s ‘Hello.’” –Nathan Rabin, The A.V Club

“Poplak is everything you want in a cultural interpreter–funny, frank and utterly incapable of spewing mass market pabulum. Poplak gets beyond the cheap, superficial observations lesser writers bring to his subject, revealing himself as a genuine thinker who delivers original insight and laughs in every chapter.” —Chuck Thompson, author of Smile When You’re Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer