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Gregory Orfalea's latest turn is a look at his native Los Angeles, one of the largest Arab American communities in the country.

Noted author Gregory Orfalea will visit the University of Arizona to read from and discuss his new book, "Angeleno Days: An Arab American Writer on Family, Place, and Politics."

Orfalea's discussion on the collection of essays and book signing will be held Oct. 7 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at the UA BookStores, which is located in the Student Union Memorial Center.

The event is free and open to the public, and is presented by the University of Arizona BookStores, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the UA Press, which published the book.

More than 400,000 Arab Americans reside in Los Angeles, and those numbers will likely surpassing Detroit as the largest contingent in America. 

In his book, Orfalea, who was born and raised in Los Angeles and educated at Georgetown University and the University of Alaska, explores his hometown and its political and social concerns. He also agonizes over another destruction of Lebanon and examines in searing detail a massacre of civilians in Iraq. 

He also tells stories of his life, taking on progressively more difficult and painful subjects, finally confronting the memories of a shocking tragedy that took the lives of his father and sister.

Orfalea has taught at several colleges including the Claremont Colleges, George Washington University and Georgetown University, where he currently teaches Arab American Literature.

He has written several books and is the author of two acclaimed histories, "The Arab Americans: A History" and "Messengers of the Lost Battalion." His work has been widely anthologized in such places as the "Norton Introduction to Poetry," "Imagining America" and "Multiculturalism in the United States."

An award-winning author, Orfalea has won numerous awards and grants from the D.C. Council on the Arts and Humanities, Institute for Contemporary Studies and the National Association of Government Communicators, among others.

He also has received the Arab American Book Award and also has appeared on PBS, the History Channel and C-Span.