"Winner of the Distinguished Book Award, Sociology of Religion Section of the American Sociological Association"
"Swift and insightful. . . . O'Brien effectively shows teenage Muslim Americans to be an unjustly persecuted minority, delving into the psychology of how they behave in reaction to their outsider status in order to paint a portrait of social anxiety and strained assimilation that is universal in its power."
Publishers Weekly
"Surprising and disarming."
New Statesman
"O’Brien, who converted to Islam as an adult, unlocks numerous insights and generates stimulating questions as he observes how these Muslim teenagers negotiate their culturally contested lives."
Christian Century
"[T]he book is intimate and is surprisingly enjoyable to read. The boys featured are very much real and the struggles—and triumphs—they experience are rendered potently. While slogging through endlessly, unnecessarily dense academic readings, it can be easy to forget that reading can be both smooth and impactful at the same time. In short: I both grew and had fun reading <i>Keeping it Halal</i>."
Journal of the History of Ideas blog
"Keeping It Halal is a sensitive, lucid, compelling portrait of the social complexity of male Muslim teen life. It should be read by anyone concerned with the way young people navigate complicated cultural terrains."—Omar M. McRoberts, author of Streets of Glory: Church and Community in a Black Urban Neighborhood
"Engaging and insightful. O'Brien provides rich descriptions of the cultural work these teenagers do in their efforts to be both good Muslims and fully American."—Mark Chaves, author of American Religion
"The best ethnography of immigrant American youth to be published in many years. O'Brien writes with empathy, sensitivity, and analytical sophistication about people trying to manage the cultural tensions of being young and Muslim in American society."—Mitchell Duneier, author of Ghetto: The Invention of a Place, the History of an Idea