Syrian Notebooks

There are still some journalists, photographers and writers who were courageous enough to report from opposition areas and remember those early days of the revolution...There was never any magic or mystery to the emergence of Isis - it was born from levels of grotesque suffering that would be hard to imagine had they not been witnessed at first hand by individuals such as Littell. Reading his account, the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of climbing into bed with Assad becomes clear - Anthony Loyd, Times His writings capture a beleaguered but defiant resistant movement... Syrian Notebooks are immediate and vivid... he has an eye for small, heartbreaking details - New Statesman Documents a pivotal moment in the conflict... Littell conveys his sense of horror in stark, fragmented prose - Independent Writing of this quality is rare, and Syrian Notebooks is a first-rate work of war reportage that may come to be seen as an indispensable piece of literature. - Flavorwire Vivid testimony. - Independent An important document of Syria's trial by fire. - CounterPunch Syrian Notebooks is Littell's raw, day-by-day account of his time shuttling between houses and conversing with members of the opposition deemed to be terrorists by the government and rarely given a voice in the West...The book is not a sugar-coated portrayal of the alternative offered by those leading the armed rebellion. Although he is certainly sympathetic, Littell does not suffer from Stockholm syndrome, nor does he simply romanticize men with guns, as was common among those who embedded with US troops in Iraq. - Charles Davis, Inter Press Service Littell's burning anger animates his book. - The National