{"product_id":"brothers-of-the-gun-marwan-hisham-9780399590634","title":"Brothers of the Gun: A Memoir of the Syrian War","description":"\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES \u003c\/i\u003eNOTABLE BOOK - LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD - A bracingly immediate memoir by a young man coming of age during the Syrian war, an intimate lens on the century's bloodiest conflict, and a profound meditation on kinship, home, and freedom.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"This powerful memoir, illuminated with Molly Crabapple's extraordinary art, provides a rare lens through which we can see a region in deadly conflict.\"--Bryan Stevenson, author of \u003ci\u003eJust Mercy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn 2011, Marwan Hisham and his two friends--fellow working-class college students Nael and Tareq--joined the first protests of the Arab Spring in Syria, in response to a recent massacre. Arm-in-arm they marched, poured Coca-Cola into one another's eyes to blunt the effects of tear gas, ran from the security forces, and cursed the country's president, Bashar al-Assad. It was ecstasy. A long-bottled revolution was finally erupting, and freedom from a brutal dictator seemed, at last, imminent. Five years later, the three young friends were scattered: one now an Islamist revolutionary, another dead at the hands of government soldiers, and the last, Marwan, now a journalist in Turkish exile, trying to find a way back to a homeland reduced to rubble. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMarwan was there to witness and document firsthand the Syrian war, from its inception to the present. He watched from the rooftops as regime warplanes bombed soldiers; as revolutionary activist groups, for a few dreamy days, spray-painted hope on Raqqa; as his friends died or threw in their lot with Islamist fighters. He became a journalist by courageously tweeting out news from a city under siege by ISIS, the Russians, and the Americans all at once. He saw the country that ran through his veins--the country that held his hopes, dreams, and fears--be destroyed in front of him, and eventually joined the relentless stream of refugees risking their lives to escape. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIllustrated with more than eighty ink drawings by Molly Crabapple that bring to life the beauty and chaos, \u003ci\u003eBrothers of the Gun\u003c\/i\u003e offers a ground-level reflection on the Syrian revolution--and how it bled into international catastrophe and global war. This is a story of pragmatism and idealism, impossible violence and repression, and, even in the midst of war, profound acts of courage, creativity, and hope. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A book of startling emotional power and intellectual depth.\"--Pankaj Mishra, author of \u003ci\u003eAge of Anger \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eFrom the Ruins of Empire\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A revelatory and necessary read on one of the most destructive wars of our time.\"--Angela Davis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Marwan Hisham,Molly Crabapple\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0399590633\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780399590634\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e One World\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/05\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 336\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.81lbs","brand":"Marwan Hisham","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48443176321279,"sku":"9780399590634","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_c015ca7a-797f-43d4-960b-d881c7895da6.jpg?v=1777202355","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/brothers-of-the-gun-marwan-hisham-9780399590634","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}