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Brothers of the Gun
Brothers of the Gun: A Memoir of the Syrian War | Molly Crabapple, Marwan Hisham
7 posts | 7 read | 17 to read
A bracingly immediate memoir by a young man coming of age during the Syrian war, Brothers of the Gun is an intimate lens on the centurys bloodiest conflict and a profound meditation on kinship, home, and freedom. This powerful memoir, illuminated with Molly Crabapples extraordinary art, provides a rare lens through which we can see a region in deadly conflict.Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy In 2011, Marwan Hisham and his two friendsfellow working-class college students Nael and Tareqjoined 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 anothers eyes to blunt the effects of tear gas, ran from the security forces, and cursed the countrys 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. Marwan 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 veinsthe country that held his hopes, dreams, and fearsbe destroyed in front of him, and eventually joined the relentless stream of refugees risking their lives to escape. Illustrated with more than eighty ink drawings by Molly Crabapple that bring to life the beauty and chaos, Brothers of the Gun offers a ground-level reflection on the Syrian revolutionand 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. From the anarchy, torment, and despair of the Syrian war, Marwan Hisham and Molly Crabapple have drawn a book of startling emotional power and intellectual depth.Pankaj Mishra, author of Age of Anger and From the Ruins of Empire A revelatory and necessary read on one of the most destructive wars of our time.Angela Davis
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Jadams89
Brothers of the Gun: A Memoir of the Syrian War | Molly Crabapple, Marwan Hisham
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Pickpick

What a heartbreaking memoir! I must admit that I knew very little about the Syrian War ( or Syria, for that matter) before reading this book. Marwan‘s struggle with losing his home to religious extremism (which didn‘t even come from the Middle East) is terrible! 13/15 #Jumpstart2020 #Nonfiction2020 - “About a 21st century war torn area” #Booked2020 - “#LiveAndLearn - a subject you know little/nothing about”

BarbaraTheBibliophage Good pick! 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa Sounds very informative and like a tough read too.... I agree, great pick! 4y
Cinfhen I‘ve already stacked this one ☝️ it sounds really interesting 4y
44 likes3 stack adds3 comments
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8little_paws
Brothers of the Gun: A Memoir of the Syrian War | Molly Crabapple, Marwan Hisham
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Pickpick

This book is intense. A memoir of a young man living in Syria in the early- mid 2010s and the unrest that's occurred in that time. I hope Americans read this and see how many parallels we have with the crisis there. The illustrations were really well done and blended in with the story well. I really want to reread this someday. It's a lot to take in.

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Redwritinghood
Brothers of the Gun: A Memoir of the Syrian War | Molly Crabapple, Marwan Hisham
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From the National Book Award longlist for non-fiction comes this illustrated memoir of the Syrian war. The author is a native of Raqqa, the first city in Syria to be overtaken by religious fundamentalists. He was a college student studying English when the war began. He lost friends and his country. This firsthand account is a valuable look at the impact of the war on the average citizen and helped me to understand the complex forces at work there

BarbaraBB Thank you for putting this on my radar. 5y
Redwritinghood @BarbaraBB My pleasure. 😊 5y
Crazeedi I think my husband would like this book for sure. Thanks for posting 5y
Redwritinghood @Crazeedi I hope he likes it. 5y
72 likes3 stack adds4 comments
blurb
Lola
Brothers of the Gun: A Memoir of the Syrian War | Molly Crabapple, Marwan Hisham
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One of my favorite local indies had its bi-annual customer appreciation night this evening. Reps from Penguin and Random House spoke about new and soon-to-be released titles. There was wine. There was cheese. There were BOOKS! I think the captioned book will be a perfect non-fiction follow-up to the store‘s fiction book club pick from this month, Salt Houses. Can‘t wait until they do it again in February! ❤️

Cinfhen Sounds like a perfect night and terrific book 6y
Lola @CouronneDhiver @Cinfhen It was a great night! 6y
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seebiscan I‘m so sad I missed Salt Houses! Hopefully everyone liked it! 6y
Lola @seebiscan Everyone loved it and it was a great discussion! So glad I saw you last night :) I tagged you in this originally-that one of my favorite book friends won a tote full of books,-but then I saw you hadn‘t posted in a long time so didn‘t think you‘d want/would see the tag and I removed it 😂 Glad to see you back! (edited) 6y
seebiscan @Lola Work has just been super crazy, so I‘ve been terrible at all social media for awhile! 😂 But I‘m so glad to hear everyone loved Salt Houses—so amazingly good, one of my favorites from last year. 6y
55 likes6 comments
blurb
gossamerchild
Brothers of the Gun: A Memoir of the Syrian War | Molly Crabapple, Marwan Hisham
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Reading reminds me of all the things I don't know that I don't know. And this is a good thing. And humbling. I need to increase my awareness.

#24in48 #Hour12challenge @24in48

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jveezer
Brothers of the Gun: A Memoir of the Syrian War | Molly Crabapple, Marwan Hisham
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Pickpick

Wow! What a perspective on the Syrian crisis. Great read for people trying to get an insider‘s and citizen‘s view of the conflict. And Crabapple‘s illustrations are wonderful! Hisham grew up in Raqqa and saw it go from a backwater to resistance of Assad‘s government to an occupied “capital” of ISIS. This book reveals many of the layers upon layers of cultural and historical issues, both nuanced and gross, both internal and external to Syria.

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jveezer
Brothers of the Gun: A Memoir of the Syrian War | Molly Crabapple, Marwan Hisham
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Wow Assad. It‘s bad here but at least our “leader” isn‘t calling himself God and making us chant slogans to him. Hope he doesn‘t read this book and get any ideas...🤯

lalatiburona I think the one thing we don't have to working about him doing is picking up a book... ESPECIALLY one written by a PoC. 6y
1 like1 comment