How do power and beauty join forces to determine who is considered ugly? What role does that ugliness play in fomenting hatred? "Ugliness" is a artistic non-fiction using a broad cultural lens to question norms of appearance—ostensibly autobiographical and personal, but in fact historical and collective. Moshtari Hilal writes in her debut book about beauty salons in Kabul as a backdrop to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Darwin’s theory of evolution, Kim Kardashian, and a utopian place in the shadow of her nose. With a profound mix of essay, poetry, her own drawings, and cultural and social history of the body, Hilal explores notions of hate and imitation, taking the reader into the most intimate of realms to put self-image to the test. Why are we afraid of ugliness?