City of Thorns: Nine Lives in the World's Largest Refugee Camp (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781250118738)

Finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize
Named a Best of Book of the Year by The Economist and Foreign Affairs
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist

The Dadaab refugee camp is many things: to the charity workers, it's a humanitarian crisis; to the Kenyan government, a "nursery for terrorists"; to the Western media, a dangerous no-go area. But to its half a million residents, it's their last resort.

Situated hundreds of miles from any other settlement, deep within the inhospitable desert of northern Kenya where only thorn bushes grow, Dadaab is a city like no other. Its buildings are made from mud, sticks, or plastic. Its entire economy is grey. And its citizens survive on rations and luck. Over the course of four years, Ben Rawlence became a firsthand witness to a strange and desperate place, getting to know many of those who had come seeking sanctuary. Among them are Guled, a former child soldier who lives for football; Nisho, who scrapes an existence by pushing a wheelbarrow and dreaming of riches; Tawane, the indomitable youth leader; and Kheyro, a student whose future hangs upon her education.

In City of Thorns, Rawlence interweaves the stories of nine individuals to show what life is like in the camp, sketching the wider political forces that keep the refugees trapped. Lucid, vivid, and illuminating, City of Thorns is an urgent human story with deep international repercussions, brought to life through the people who call Dabaab home.

Author: Ben Rawlence
ISBN-10: 1250118735
ISBN-13: 9781250118738
Publisher: Picador USA
Language: English
Published: 01/03/2017
Pages: 400
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 8.10h x 5.40w x 1.10d