The stunning debut of a brilliant nonfiction writer whose vivid account of his grandparentsampamprsquo lives in Egypt Tunisia Palestine and Los Angeles reclaims his familyampamprsquos Jewish Arab identity Winner of the 2020 Arab American Book Award for nonfiction and one of NPRampamprsquos best books of 2019 When We Were Arabs is a gorgeous family memoir and ampampldquoa powerful exploration of Arab Jewish identityampamprdquo The New Arab that brings the world of Jewish Arab writer and artist Massoud Hayounampamprsquos parents and grandparents alive vividly shattering our contemporary understanding of what makes an Arab and what makes a Jew. There was a time when being an ampampldquoArabampamprdquo didnampamprsquot mean you were necessarily Muslim. It was a time when Oscar Hayoun a Jewish Arab strode along the Nile in a fashionable suit and Arabness was a mark of cosmopolitanism of intellectualism.