Get Home Safe: A Guide to Self-Defense and Building Our Collective Power

by Rana Abdelhamid

Grounded in her experience as a blackbelt, self-defense instructor, and globally recognized organizer, Rana Abdelhamid offers a bold, urgent roadmap to a safer world

Abdelhamid wants every woman and survivor of gender-based violence to be able to defend themselves, and every community to build collective safety. What if we didn't accept that it’s unsafe to walk home alone as a fact of life, but instead went out and created safe spaces for ourselves?

Through thousands of training sessions, she’s seen firsthand the strength we carry in our bodies, no matter our background or circumstance. Her revolutionary framework for finding that strength starts with emotional healing, then teaches physical self-defense and economic safety, and finally equips readers with organizing strategies to fight the systems that enable violence in the first place. A rallying cry and a practical guide, Get Home Safe will leave listeners, regardless of strength, identity, or income, knowing they can fight back and reclaim power.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Health, Feminism

320 pages, Paperback

Published February 24, 2026

Reviews

[Sunny Lu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feminist self defense yayyyy

[Peter Z.]

Learn self defense from a book? Let alone a book with a political axe to grind?
I hope that helps when it's a "no holds barred" brawl and you're fighting for your life.
You might want to put down the politics and have some experience actually going hands-on with a person who's trying to hurt you or drag you off. It's different than reading about it in a book.
You're going to freeze. "Not recommended."

[Katherine Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this well-researched and thorough guide, Rana Abdelhamid shares her expertise not just in physical self-defense, but also in healing, community organizing, economic self-defense, and activism. The book mixes practical, step-by-step advice with emotional storytelling which engages the reader.

While reading, I thought about how much I needed this book as a college student, and how much I'm looking forward to buying a physical copy for myself to lend out, and for the library where I work so I can recommend it to the young women and nonbinary folx at my college. So many of the actions recommended by this book are simple and actionable. I can see myself returning to this book again and again, and I may even assign sections in the classes I teach. This is an excellent resource for anyone--not just women, and not just minoritized people--with interest in collective defense and coalition building.

Though some of the tips seem simple, they build into a coherent narrative which helps the reader to deconstruct both personal and systematic threats to safety. Abdelhamid addresses how one can work to fight both. This book is intersectional, honest, and somehow still hopeful. I felt more powerful just having read it, and I've already begun to adopt some of its lessons.

My extreme gratitude to the author, NetGalley, and Algonquin Books for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

[Stacey ˗ ღ ˎˊ˗ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐

This book is empowering in the truest sense of the word. I expected a solid self-defense guide. What I found was something bigger: a reclamation of safety for people who have historically been told to shrink, stay quiet, or accept vulnerability as inevitable.

Abdelhamid centers the voices of Muslim women, women of color, and other marginalized communities not as afterthoughts, but as the starting point. Safety is expressed as a concept that is lived, political, embodied. She moves fluidly between personal story, practical defense strategies, and a broader conversation about financial independence and collective organizing. It feels less like “here’s how to throw a punch” and more like “here’s how we build power.”

What resonated most for me was the insistence that safety is communal and rooted in solidarity and preparation. That perspective feels urgent in this moment in our nation.

Yes, the book is ambitious. Yes, it blends memoir, manifesto, and manual. But the heart of it is steady and clear: disenfranchised voices deserve tools, resources, and structural change, not just platitudes about empowerment.

This is a book I’d hand to young women, organizers, public health workers, and anyone thinking seriously about what safety actually requires. Thank you so much to Algonquin Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to review an advance copy!

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

A practical guide to self-defense by Rana Abdelhamid, who has impressive experience in community organizing and teaching self-defense for women, with a focus on Muslim women in her Queens community. The book goes far beyond physical skills to address financial barriers and political systems contributing to gender-based violence.

Self-defense instruction is a bit challenging to read and works best with physical practice with an instructor, but I appreciated that there were diagrams and a helpful overview of techniques. And that this book addresses the bigger picture of community safety. Would love to take one of her classes!

Thank you to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[JXR · Rating 5 out of 5]

I definitely wasn't the intended audience for this work but I still got a lot out of it. Ms. Abdelhamid's writing style is really effective at detailing procedures and practices, and I think her style would work well for a memoir at some point as well. In general, I think this'd be a great read, especially for her target audience.

tysm for the arc.

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[H]

I may return to this - but for now, much of it felt elementary. It will be helpful for some. Also, I'm just not in the mood to read a book that reminds me that men are trying to attack me on the street at any moment (not the fault of the author, obviously). I don't need something adding to hypervigilance at this time...

[Miranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

So informative and important.

[ladieniqma · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 ⭐ from the start. This needs to sit on every female's bookshelf.

[Jonesy.Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a unique guide to self defense and resilience, written by a blackbelt female self defence instructor, and world renowned community organizer.
This book give practical self defense advice with chapters dedicated to movements that work and have been used in real world altercations by her and other members of her self defence classes. She also recounts events where specific techniques have worked for herself and other individuals.
What stood out to me though we're the chapters based around creating a community for women who help other women. How to insure access to funds if you ever have to leave your family situation. There are tips and techniques for keeping yourself and your children safe and fed if you ever have to flee a domestic abuse situation. As well as how to build a stronger community to support women who have had to leave everything behind.

Thank you NetGalley, Algonquin Books, and Little Brown and Company for providing me with a digital copy of this in order for me to share my honest review about it.

[Lottie C · Rating 5 out of 5]

5⭐️

I found the preamble at the beginning on gendered violence to be very well written and insightful, didn’t care as much for the rest, although some helpful advice and tips to be found