Ali Velshi truly brings history alive in this inspirational account of his family's history. It made me realize what sheltered lives most of us lead in comparison. I learned so much that I never knew or had forgotten. It was also interesting to read about Canada and it's approach to immigrants. Most important, he emphasizes the dangers of complacency. How sad that we don't appreciate something until we lose it. Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and the author for an advance copy to read and review.

Small Acts of Courage: A Legacy of Endurance and the Fight for Democracy
By Ali Velshi
Family History
St. Martin's Press
May 2024


In India, a man does well enough to take care of his family and also his community. He helps build a mosque and a well for everyone. His son immigrates to South Africa, builds a life from nothing, and contributes to his community, as does his son. That man's grandson leaves South Africa during the terror of apartheid and builds a life in Kenya, working with people of other cultures, faiths and ethnicities until that country fails its promise of democracy. He and his family move to Canada, where they are welcomed and where they again contribute to their community in service that eventually includes political office. His son grows up in Canada, ends up in America, becomes a citizen and learns how much contributing to society and upholding democracy means to him.

That man is Ali Velshi, whose lesson came home to him when he was shot with a rubber bullet on live television during the George Floyd protests.

In his new book, Small Acts of Courage: A Legacy of Endurance and the Fight for Democracy, Velshi outlines how hard work and working for the whole community have been integral to his family.

The individual generations of his family searched for a place to belong for years. Velshi combines the history of what was happening in each country in which generations of his family settled and tried to settle in. Along the way, they had connections with some of the greatest activists of the 20th century. His grandfather was sent, as a 7-year-old boy, by his father to his friend Gandhi's Tolstoy Farm. It was an ashram Gandhi founded in 1910 as a way to stand against discrimination during his years in South Africa, before he returned to India and changed the world.

Velshi's uncle was part of the resistance against discrimination and later apartheid. This was even as his grandfather and father operated a successful bakery that helped feed thousands. He knew Mandela and, although not part of his circle, also was eventually imprisoned.

These brushes with the famous are not included in Small Acts of Courage as boasting. They are part of the story of how Velshi's family walked the walk of their Ismaili Muslim faith. A basic tenet of their faith as set forth by their leader, the Aga Khan. Applying what you believe to the world in which you live is what they do. And that boils down to caring for your community the way you care about your family, to be part of the world in the most positive way possible with practical acts.

"Don't close yourself off from the cultures and the people that surround you. Work with them. Be compassionate to them, Educate your children to understand them and integrate with them."

When his parents had to leave Kenya, after sadly relocating there because, as bad as things were in South Africa, that was home, they were fortunate enough to be welcomed to Canada. As Kenyan citizens, their path to the fellow Commonwealth country was easier than it might have been otherwise. And when they arrived, they once again set up a new business and got involved helping others. Their little Toronto home became a way station for new immigrants, friends and relatives. Their interest in the world around them helped spark the same in their son.

Velshi writes about the effect of his family's legacy. He is a pluralist who can embrace all the parts of his heritage -- the India he never lived in, the South Africa his parents escaped shortly before he was born, the Kenya in which he was born just before the family moved to Canada, the Canada in which he grew up, and the America which this citizen of the world calls home.

He also pays honor to the women of his family, the grandmother who held things together, the mother who worked alongside her husband in every aspect of their lives, the sister who has carved out a career of public service to help others, and the wife who has encouraged him to live his fullest life.

The final pages of Small Acts of Courage show how a family's determination to be decent, helpful and determined to do the best they can with what they've got to make the world a better place have become the calling of Ali Velshi as well. The decency of his family members, the curiosity to find out how things tick for all kinds of people, and the knowledge that a strong, functioning democracy is the best way to serve people are behind the stories he covers and the way he brings the world to his television viewers.

In this current age, when democracy is in danger around the world, the lessons of his family are even more important.

"This is what my father and mother and sister knew. It's what my grandparents and great-grandparents knew, despite their total lack of a formal education. Justice isn't justice until it's universal. Equality isn't equality until it's universal. Democracy isn't democracy until it's universal."

The responsibilities of living in a democracy are as important as the rights:

"Only we will protect us.

Only you will protect us.

We all have a role to play, and all of our roles are of equal importance."

Small Acts of Courage is an engaging, important book for anyone who cares about where we all have come from and where we want to be.

Title says it all it was amazing book.I learned a lot. How this family went for being nothing in India because I had to leave because of the British. They were prosperous there until a certain point. They decided to immigrate to south africa because it was part of the british but they also kind of the dutch too. They could not get citizenship but they started businesses because they have the background and the knowledge. Reforced to live in a little area but they continued to thrive. These were amazing.People they even started a bakery and they helped each other out as much as they could. When the new laws went into effect in 1947, they started to lose businesses.Because of the the the racial laws went to into effect. So they were forced to move to kenya because this was also a british colony. His mother and father started a new life there and they were very political and his father ran a business and his mother was running atravel agency. They helped out people in the community. When his grandfather who lived in south africa also me at gandhi and they became really close friends. He sent his son 21 of the farms called tulsa farm to learn how to be self sufficient. This is why it was easier for him when he had to leave south africa with his wife and child to go to kenya. This turned out really well until 1972. When things started to go around when the African movement started and they were not welcome either India or in Africa. So they had to come up with another plan.. They left there and went to Canada and this was really a part of an amazing story too, because how they embrace the new culture and immense themselves into politics and started another travel agency.
Ou can see.. This takes a lot of courage to keep moving around and starting businesses but they had to. They also encourage people to give their time or energy and volunteering. This was amazing because it helped you become a better person. I also like how Canada had multiple culturalism. Everybody was welcome to be who they wanted to be and everybody was accepted. Except in quebec. This family embraced everybody.They acset christmas along with their holidays. This is a really good book. I think more people should read it and really understand how people can understand.
Other cultures by embracing them and enjoying them, but also keeping their own identity as well. I think the hate is when you don't understand something. And you think you're right, you're not right. Because you don't understand where they're coming from. I think immigration is really good because it opens your eyes to other people's experiences and how they feel when they're walking into a new country. This family embraced everybody. They could come to their homes. To had parties everybody was welcome. I think that's really great because his son came a journalism and I think he really understood..

Small Acts of Courage by Ali Velshi was a fascinating and well written memoir.
I enjoyed reading Small Acts of Courage. I thought Velshi did an amazing job and telling his story and it was quite enjoyable.

Thank You NetGalley and Publisher for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

WHOOSH!!!

There is a lot to unpack in this book and I honestly never expected to feel so much or learn so much or feel like I was a part of the immigration experience again [I traveled to and lived in two foreign countrkes, and was married to someone who had to do the American immigration, which was awful and exhausting], like I did in reading this book. The story of the authors family, starting in India and ending up with the author getting U.S. Citizenship is nothing short of amazing and at times made it almost impossible for me to put it down. It's engaging, exciting, and had several chapters that made me just weep for what his family suffered.

A weird twist to the story [that also made me weep for 2 whole chapters because SENSITIVE] for me is that once the author and his parents and sister finally got to Canada [via South Africa and Kenya], they settled in Toronto. The you find out that they settled in a city within the GTA called Don Mills, which was the city I lived in for 7+ years [and haven't been back to since 2013 and miss it every day] and hearing what it was like back in the 70's and 80's from someone other than my ex and his family was very, very cool [as well as tear-inducing]. One of the biggest things I learned a lot about was how elections really work in Canada, something I always struggled with when I lived there. The author lays it out in a way that no or else could and it was really great to finally understand that aspect of Canadian life. So even with the tears, it was so good to learn something in the midst of sadness.

Well-written, and told in an upfront and frank manner, this was one of the better history/memoir books I have read this year and will leave you feeling like you an accomplish anything, just Mr. Velshi's family have over the years. I admire and look up to them and all they have gone through, accomplished and are continuing to do. Well done.

I was grateful to have received an audiobook ARC for this book and I am so glad I did; Mr. Velshi narrates and he does that much like he wrote to book; straightforward and frankly, his narration makes the stories come alive and makes them feel even more real for the reader. I highly recommend this audiobook!!

Thank you to NetGalley, Ali Velshi, St. Martin's Press, and Macmillan Audio for providing both the eBook and audiobook ARC's in exchange for an honest review.

The title gave me great hope that this would be a celebration of individuals who had used their lives to make a difference in their surroundings--however small. I'm quitting at 17% through this book without having read of a single such case. Rather, I see nothing but historical white-bashing and bemoaning. When the author visits his ancestral roots, he finds them all happy, with food and shelter, conducting commerce together. Is this a good thing? No, he seems to think they shouldn't be happy because they aren't all professionals caught up in all the stress that that brings. As someone from very poor roots in the backwoods of Kentucky, I know those people to be among the happiest and most generous people in the world. How arrogant for me to claim they shouldn't be happy!

Rather than giving uplifting examples of people acting courageously, the author is trying to make us angry for the past and divide us even further. It's sad that he is using his platform in a destructive rather than helpful way.

I received a free ebook from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review. I had not heard of the author before reading this book. The book sounded intriguing. I am a liberal Ashkenazi Jew. I am a similar age to the author. I grew up in Buffalo, NY. I knew so little about Canada's history.

This book was fascinating. I finished it quickly. There was no part of the book that wasn't interesting. The book had so many layers. The book had parts with a lot of history and facts. I was so thankful on being educated. There were parts of the book that was emotional. Other parts of the book was telling really good ( family) stories.

The book taught me so much. I realized I knew so little about Aparteid, Africa, Ghandi, and Canada. I had no idea that this book was going to educate me on so many things. This book has really changed me. That is what a really good book does.

I was fascinated by Ali's family story. He told the stories of his grandparents, parents, his sister, and himself. He, also, told the stories of friends and other family members. I felt like I was at his house learning about everyone.

I loved that this was a book about so much. It was a book about hope, trials, failure, politics, family, community, and love. The author gave the reader hope in our community and country. That we really have an influence what happens to our nation.

I want to thank Netgalley and Ali Velshi for this amazing book. I hope to see the author at a book tour. I look forward to reading the next book by Ali.

What an incredible journey this book took me on, I have always admired and loved watching Ali Velshi as he reports on television but this story of his family took me along for the ride.

This was history I had never heard (or if I had, it was just the outlines of it). I had no idea there was a significant Indian population in Africa. But to see how his family navigated living in a country where they were not wanted was eye opening. Even the Canadian history was something I really wasn't much aware of. To say this was a highly educational read is an understatement, I feel like my world has been expanded since reading this.

Velshi ties his family history together with current events and the American fight to maintain our democracy. I highly recommend this for anyone who loves history and memoirs and political events (past and present).

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review and all opinions are my own.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this book that is both a memoir and look at the world and what is at stake from a person who brings his experiences, knowledge and his upbringing to the fight for democracy and freedom in a country that seems to be getting darker and darker.

The outsiders is always viewed by societys, especially in America as something that is different, and by different a threat. A threat to the values, the religion, the economics, or anything else that causes fear. Outsiders ruin a country, says American citizens, who unless they are indigenous, really shouldn't be saying things like that. We are a country of outsiders who made the brave step of leaving everything we have known for something new, hopefully better. To bring one's family or to make a family biological or chosen. We all want to be free to be who we are, and what we can be. America doesn't seem like that kind of place anymore. Fear rules politics, health, news, even entertainment. Control has always been the tool of government, and for some reason we are allowing this control to grow, over who we love, what we read, and what we do with our bodies. That's why we need the outsiders. Insiders might not see the signs, or even welcome the change. Outsiders do, and those brave enough to say, Hey, are the true citizens of this country. Ali Velshi has been around the world, and seen much. Not only does he have the personal experiences to see what is happening, freedom runs in his blood. In his book Small Acts of Courage: A Legacy of Endurance and the Fight for Democracy, Velshi shares about his life, his family and his ancestors, and his ability to speak to power, and the importance for all of us to do so.

The book begins with Ali Velshi joining that rising demographic in America, people being shot by police. Luckily it was a rubber bullet, one that could still maim, or cause a concussion, but that is what happens when attending protests against police actions. Even more unlucky is that the police knew that they were firing on the media, watching their actions and cared little, knowing that there would be no consequences for their action. Velshi considers this a almost a mark of citizenship, and how becoming an American citizen, after years of living in other countries and working various places was so important to him. Which leads to where Velshi acquired this spirit, this interest in calling out inequality, and this leads far into the past. Velshi discusses his grandfather's time on an ashram in of all places South Africa, where the feelings that Velshi displays so well were first seeded in his family. And of the long course around the world to bring him to America and television.

A book that is more than a memoir, or a look at some fascinating people, but a reminder that what this idea, this America is valuable. Sure there is a lot of dust on it, and it might not look so good in the current light, but the potential and the dream is still there. Velshi has lived a very interesting life, in a lot of varied places, and his worldview offers a look at the current level of politics in this country that is probably much different from many of his fellow journalists. The writing is quite good, with Velshi having a clear narrative idea, and never losing sight of it as he tells his tale, and shares his views. Not just a interesting memoir, but a good reminder of what we can be.