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Kingdom of Olives and Ash
Kingdom of Olives and Ash: Writers Confront the Occupation | Michael Chabon, Ayelet Waldman
6 posts | 7 read | 10 to read
A groundbreaking collection of essays by celebrated international writers bears witness to the human cost of fifty years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. In Kingdom of Olives and Ash, Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman, two of today's most renowned novelists and essayists, have teamed up with the Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence—an organization comprised of former Israeli soldiers who served in the occupied territories and saw firsthand the injustice there—and a host of illustrious writers to tell the stories of the people on the ground in the contested territories. Kingdom of Olives and Ash includes contributions from several of today’s most esteemed storytellers including: Colum McCann, Jacqueline Woodson, Colm Toibin, Geraldine Brooks, Dave Eggers, Hari Kunzru, Raja Shehadeh, Mario Vargas Llosa and Assaf Gavron, as well as from editors Chabon and Waldman. Through these incisive, perceptive, and poignant essays, readers will gain unique insight into the narratives behind the litany of grim destruction broadcasted nightly on the news, as well as deeper understanding of the conflict as experienced by the people who live in the occupied territories. Together, these stories stand witness to the human cost of the occupation.
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vlwelser
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Pickpick

This book was really interesting. Famous writers from a wide variety of backgrounds all travel to Israel to write about what it's like in Palestine. It's pretty eye opening. One essay is about rap, one is about soccer, and nearly all of them mention that the per capita water available to Palestinians is well below the minimum recommended by the WHO.

#BookSpinBingo square 5
@TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Great progress!!! 4y
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Anna40
Mehso-so

Collection of essays. The pick is for Assaf Gavron: Playing for Palestine - an interesting essay on soccer politics. Lost interest in reading the others, my rating of so-so is probably unfair ...

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GuiltyFeat
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Mehso-so

I'm a bit conflicted about the potential impact of this project. Saying that the Occupation is bad is redundant. No one intelligent is going to argue with you. There's also a fair amount of repetition, hardly surprising given that some of these writers traveled together, but there are also some gems here including Assaf Gavron's piece about football and Colum McCann's moving story about Combatants for Peace. Fruitless and mostly toothless.

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GuiltyFeat
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Left work a little early and drove an hour to Jerusalem to see a panel with Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman discussing their new book subtitled: Writers Confront the Occupation.

That's Chabon in the hat. Yes, they read out my question. And yes, I may have got a bit shouty from the audience when I didn't like the answer, but they were very gracious and I hung around afterwards to apologize.

Lucky for me they signed my book before the panel.

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NoFrigateLikeABook
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If you know me IRL, you've heard me rave about this excellent collection. Go buy it. Have your eyes opened.

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Ilana

Reading this now and having many feelings. Also have been neglecting this place so I'm updating all the books I've recently read!!!