Burning Country
“Revolutionary Syrians often describe their first protest as an ecstatic event, a kind of rebirth,” explain authors Robin Yassin-Kassab and Leila Al-Shami in Burning Country. “At first I was scared to join in. But one day there was a very big demonstration, which came from two directions. When I heard the chanting and the singing, I started crying. Suddenly I was filled with courage, and I picked myself up and walked out to join in. My mother tried to stop me but I went anyway. It was a beautiful experience.