
The Home I Worked to Make
Voices from the New Syrian Diaspora
Wendy Pearlman(Author)
WW Norton & Co (Publisher)
Published on 2. August 2024
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-1-324-09223-0 (ISBN)
Description
In 2011, Syrians took to the streets demanding freedom. Brutal government repression transformed peaceful protests into one of the most devastating conflicts of our time, killing hundreds of thousands and displacing millions. The Home I Worked to Make takes Syria's refugee outflow as its point of departure. Based on hundreds of interviews conducted across more than a decade, it probes a question as intimate as it is universal: What is home? With gripping immediacy, Syrians now on five continents share stories of leaving, losing, searching, and finding (or not finding) home. Across this tapestry of voices, a new understanding emerges: home. For those without the privilege of taking it for granted, home is both struggle and achievement. Recasting "refugee crises" as acts of diaspora-making, The Home I Worked to Make challenges readers to grapple with the hard-won wisdom of those who survive war and to see, with fresh eyes, what home means in their own lives.
Reviews / Votes
"Pearlman weaves these tales together beautifully, artfully teasing out their commonalities, complexities, and contradictions...effectively centre[ing] the voices of refugees, drawing unexpected and incisive conclusions from her rich data... A stunningly curated text that strikes at the core of what it means to exist as a person in the world." -- Kirkus Reviews "[A] vital book ... a compendium of oral histories at once honest, instructive and devastating, collected through the tireless efforts of one of the most intellectually and morally astute thinkers working today." -- Omar El Akkad, best-selling author of American War and What Strange Paradise "When I opened this book, I expected to learn a lot about Syria; I didn't expect to learn so much about the meaning of home. Individually, these are urgent stories, beautifully crafted in simple, elegant prose. Collectively, they are a powerful reflection on home, on Syria, and on the inner struggles of its diaspora. A must-read for anyone who has ever craved home." -- Dina Nayeri, author of The Ungrateful Refugee and Who Gets Believed?More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Illustrations
2 maps
Dimensions
Height: 233 mm
Width: 160 mm
Thickness: 29 mm
Weight
498 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-324-09223-0 (9781324092230)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
07/2024
Liveright
€26.99
Available for download
Person
Wendy Pearlman is professor of political science at Northwestern University. She speaks Arabic and is the author of five books on the Middle East, including We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria, which was longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence.