Political prisoners -- Syria -- Biography. |
Iraq War, 2003-2011 -- Refugees -- Syria -- Biography. |
Refugees -- Syria -- Biography. |
Refugees -- Iraq -- Biography. |
Journalists -- Canada -- Biography. |
Mahmood, Ahlam A. |
Campbell, Deborah, 1970- |
Prisoners of conscience |
Anglo-American Invasion of Iraq, 2003-2011 |
Dawn, Operation New, 2010-2011 |
Gulf War II, 2003-2011 |
Iraq -- History -- Anglo-American Invasion, 2003-2011 |
Iraqi Freedom, Operation, 2003-2010 |
New Dawn, Operation, 2010-2011 |
Operation Iraqi Freedom, 2003-2010 |
Operation New Dawn, 2010-2011 |
Operation Telic, 2003-2011 |
Persian Gulf War, 2003-2011 |
Telic, Operation, 2003-2011 |
Displaced persons |
Columnists |
Commentators |
Available:
Library | Shelf Number | Shelf Location | Status |
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Searching... Fairhaven-Millicent | B MAHMOOD (AHL) CAM 2016 | NONFICTION | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Foxboro - Boyden Library | 956.7044 CAMPBELL | NONFICTION | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Mansfield Public Library | 956.704 C | NONFICTION | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... New Bedford Francis J. Lawler Branch | B MAHMOOD CAM 2017 | NONFICTION | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Norfolk Public Library | 956.7044 CAMP | NONFICTION | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Rehoboth - Blanding Free PL | 956.704 CAM | NONFICTION | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Taunton Public Library | 956.91092 C187D | 3RD FLOOR STACKS | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Winner of the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction
Winner of the Freedom to Read Award
Winner of the Hubert Evans Prize
In the midst of an unfolding international crisis, renowned journalist Deborah Campbell finds herself swept up in the mysterious disappearance of Ahlam, her guide and friend. Campbell's frank, personal account of a journey through fear and the triumph of friendship and courage is as riveting as it is illuminating.
The story begins in 2007, when Deborah Campbell travels undercover to Damascus to report on the exodus of Iraqis into Syria, following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. There she meets and hires Ahlam, a refugee working as a "fixer"--providing Western media with trustworthy information and contacts to help get the news out. Ahlam has fled her home in Iraq after being kidnapped while running a humanitarian center. She supports her husband and two children while working to set up a makeshift school for displaced girls. Strong and charismatic, she has become an unofficial leader of the refugee community.
Campbell is inspired by Ahlam's determination to create something good amid so much suffering, and the two women become close friends. But one morning, Ahlam is seized from her home in front of Campbell's eyes. Haunted by the prospect that their work together has led to her friend's arrest, Campbell spends the months that follow desperately trying to find Ahlam--all the while fearing she could be next.
The compelling story of two women caught up in the shadowy politics behind today's most searing conflict, A Disappearance in Damascus reminds us of the courage of those who risk their lives to bring us the world's news.
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Journalist Campbell spotlights the life of an exceptional Iraqi woman, Ahlam, who was her guide and companion as she reported for Harper's magazine in 2006 about the years following the fall of Saddam Hussein. Campbell, who was assigned by the magazine to write about the exodus of displaced Iraqis into Syria, here explores the lethal factions and political minefields in Syria at the time, and recalls recruiting Ahlam as a "fixer" to secure information for her. Ahlam had already been captured, pistol-whipped, and tortured back in Iraq by insurgents for performing intelligence work for Americans, so Campbell particularly admired her for continuing to do the same dangerous job in Syria. When Ahlam is detained by the Syrian government for her work with Campbell, whom the Syrians suspect of being a Mossad or CIA agent, Campbell embarks on a quest to secure her release. The author's devotion to her friend will open hearts as Campbell and Ahlam's family try every option to gain her freedom. Campbell's work is an informed, fascinating account of one courageous source. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
A Canadian journalist covering the plight of Iraqis who fled to Syria a decade ago enlists the help of an Iraqi woman in Damascusfriendship and disaster ensue.In 2007, Campbell (Creative Writing/Univ. of British Columbia), a three-time National Magazine Award winner for foreign correspondence, was working on a major story for Harper's about Iraqi refugees when she first made contact with Ahlam, an Iraqi woman who served as her "fixer" (one who clears paths for journalists). Their professional relationship soon grew personal, and the author chronicles what went well and what went terribly wrong. Told principally in the first person, Campbell's story includes not only her stark and frightening experiences in Damascus, but also her fracturing love life back home as well as background on the Iraq War and ensuing civil war and the frangible stability in Syria, the only country to accept large numbers of Iraqi refugees. As she worked on her story, Campbell's friendship with Ahlam flourished and continued when the author left the country. Then Campbell found out that Ahlam had been arrested. The author, feeling profound guilt (was it because of her?), employed numerous strategies to find out why she was arrested, where she was being held, and what the charges were. Campbell's text races alongcatching readers' hearts as it goesand after the arrest, the author includes sections of "Ahlam's Story," grim third-person accounts about the experience of prison: deprivation, interrogations, violence, and terror. These sections increase the tension in readers, who have known since the beginning that dark things were on the way. The author sometimes veers a little toward the melodramatic near the ends of chapters, but it's a small quibble in a powerful book. In the stormwater's swirl, Campbell has found a bright and tender leaf to follow, and the effect on readers will be transformative. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* In 2007, Campbell meets Ahlam in Damascus while reporting on Iraqi refugees in Syria. Ahlam is a highly recommended and well-educated fixer: an interpreter and guide who can help journalists find sources and make connections. A refugee herself, Ahlam fled Iraq after she had been kidnapped and threatened for her work with American soldiers. In Damascus, Ahlam sets up a school for young girls and continues working with foreign journalists. Her work is risky, as the government fears American interference in Syria. During Campbell's return to Damascus for a new story, Syrian authorities arrest Ahlam. Campbell struggles to find where Ahlam is being held and on what charges, but there seems to be no way for her to help. A Disappearance in Damascus, winner of Canada's 2016 Hilary Weston Writer's Trust Prize for Nonfiction, tells Ahlam's remarkable story of tragedy and resilience while situating her experience within the larger context of the war in Iraq. Campbell's captivating writing allows readers to see inside the life of a foreign correspondent and the bonds forged and broken through investigative reporting.--Chanoux, Laura Copyright 2017 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
BLACK DETROIT: A People's History of Self-Determination, by Herb Boyd. (Amistad/HarperCollins, $16.99.) Boyd weaves the lives of standout African-American figures into this history of the city, tracing its evolution from a French trading post to a symbol of decline. From the country's first black auto dealer to Michigan's first black obstetrician, characters who might have otherwise remained on history's sidelines are the heart of Boyd's history. GOODBYE, VITAMIN, by Rachel Khong. (Picador, $16.) In the wake of a breakup, Ruth - 30, adrift and heartbroken - returns home to care for her father, who is in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. The novel takes the form of Ruth's diary over that year, resulting in a poignant and even darkly comic exploration of adulthood, relationships and memory. THE WRITTEN WORLD: The Power of Stories to Shape People, History, and Civilization, by Martin Puchner. (Random House, $20.) Puchner, an English professor at Harvard, makes the case for literature's all-importance to societies and the shape of humanity's history. His research has taken him to every continent, in the search for sacred and foundational texts, and spans centuries, from Mesopotamia to Cervantes to Harry Potter. SEE WHAT I HAVE DONE, by Sarah Schmidt. (Grove, $16.) Schmidt revisits the unsolved Fall River murders at the center of Lizzie Borden's life: In Massachusetts in 1892, Lizzie's father and stepmother were hacked to death. Schmidt imagines the lead-up to the grisly crime, and Lizzie's possible madness. Our reviewer, Patrick McGrath, called the novel "a lurid and original work of horror," which evokes "the disintegrating character of this sweltering, unhygienic and claustrophobic household of locked doors and repressed emotions." HUNGER: A Memoir of (My) Body, by Roxane Gay. (Harper Perennial, $16.99.) Reflecting on her life through the lens of her body, Gay engages with questions about desire, nourishment and protection. As Carina Chocano wrote here, the memoir reads like Gay's "victorious, if not frictionless, journey back to herself, back into her body, from the splitting off of trauma. Is the responsibility for her body really hers alone?" THE MISFORTUNE OF MARION PALM, by Emily Culliton (Vintage, $15.95.) In this debut novel, a Brooklyn mother has embezzled a modest amount from her children's private school. When it faces an audit, she leaves her family behind and goes on the lam. As she tries to carve out a new place in the world, Marion turns out to be a delightful antiheroine and defies expectation at every turn.
Library Journal Review
Acclaimed journalist Campbell first met Ahlam in Damascus while on assignment to cover the growing unrest in Syria. Their friendship is the focus of this title. The first part of the book moves seamlessly between Ahlam's personal history and her work as a fixer for Western reporters, including Campbell. While Ahlam was the first person from her village to get a university degree, she couldn't afford to leave her country and use her education. Her job assisting foreigners during the Iraqi War drew negative attention, leading her to flee to Syria, where she became a leader within the refugee community. The second half of the book focuses on Ahlam's kidnapping, specifically how Campbell reconciles that she may have been the cause of her friend's disappearance, and what she and others do to try to find their companion. VERDICT Captivating and emotional, this book centers more on the story of Ahlam than that of the author, allowing readers to immerse themselves in the refugee experience and feel their uncertainty amid the chaos. For readers interested in current events, strong female friendships, and the ongoing crises in the Middle East. [See Prepub Alert, 4/3/17.]-Heidi Uphoff, Sandia National Laboratories, NM © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
Prologue | p. 1 |
Part 1 | |
1 Exodus | p. 5 |
2 The Fixer | p. 19 |
3 The Apartment | p. 40 |
4 The Death Division | p. 51 |
5 A Free Bird | p. 61 |
6 Friendship | p. 80 |
7 Another Country | p. 98 |
8 Ahlam's War | p. 105 |
9 A Small Triumph | p. 125 |
10 Assassins | p. 133 |
11 Damascus in Winter | p. 137 |
Part 2 | |
12 These Dark Times | p. 161 |
13 The Disappearance | p. 180 |
14 The Cage | p. 189 |
15 Officialdom | p. 201 |
16 The Fixer's Fixer | p. 213 |
17 Alone Together | p. 220 |
Part 3 | |
18 Ahlam's Story, Part One | p. 231 |
19 We Accept Everything | p. 240 |
20 Ahlam's Story, Part Two | p. 246 |
21 Beirut | p. 252 |
22 The Children | p. 262 |
23 Unexpected Revelations | p. 270 |
24 Ahlam's Story, Part Three | p. 277 |
25 Failure | p. 287 |
Part 4 | |
26 Ahlam's Story, Part Four | p. 293 |
27 Adaptation | p. 307 |
28 Aftermath | p. 313 |
29 Exile | p. 320 |
Acknowledgements | p. 325 |
Notes | p. 327 |
Bibliography | p. 336 |