I Was Told To Come Alone: My Journey Behind the Lines of Jihad
Autor Souad Mekhenneten Limba Engleză Paperback – 5 iul 2018
Ne-a atras atenția încă de la primele pagini scena în care o jurnalistă este somată să lase în urmă orice urmă de identitate — telefon, ceas, acte — pentru a păși într-un teritoriu unde regulile civilizației occidentale dispar. Bazându-se pe arhivele personale de teren și pe o serie de interviuri riscante realizate pentru Washington Post, Souad Mekhennet ne oferă în I Was Told To Come Alone o perspectivă rară asupra culiselor jihadismului global. Observăm cum identitatea sa duală, de musulmană născută și educată în Germania, devine singura cheie capabilă să deschidă uși ferecate pentru jurnaliștii occidentali, de la celulele Al Qaeda până la liniile de front ale ISIS. Experiența de lectură este una tensionată, marcată de un ritm alert care ne poartă din cartierele germane unde s-a plănuit atacul de la 11 septembrie, până în inima eșecului Primăverii Arabe. Apreciem modul în care autoarea refuză simplificările, alegând în schimb să exploreze nuanțele loialității și ale radicalizării. Această abordare amintește de munca sa anterioară din Dr. Tod, unde a urmărit urmele unui criminal nazist, confirmând interesul constant al autoarei pentru mecanismele fanatismului și ale memoriei istorice. Cartea se așază pe același raft cu In the Skin of a Jihadist de Anna Erelle, dar cu un accent pe rigoarea jurnalismului de investigație pe termen lung și pe analiza sociopolitică profundă a Europei contemporane, mai degrabă decât pe infiltrarea digitală. Tonul este sobru, dar cinematic, transformând o biografie personală într-un document esențial pentru înțelegerea conflictelor care au remodelat secolul XXI. Souad Mekhennet nu este doar un observator, ci un mediator între două lumi care se privesc adesea prin prisma prejudecăților.
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Specificații
ISBN-10: 034900837X
Pagini: 432
Dimensiuni: 138 x 200 x 28 mm
Greutate: 0.33 kg
Editura: Little Brown
Colecția Virago
Locul publicării:London, United Kingdom
De ce să citești această carte
Recomandăm această carte celor pasionați de geopolitică și jurnalism de investigație autentic. Cititorul câștigă o înțelegere nuanțată a procesului de radicalizare, explicat de o voce care aparține ambelor culturi. Este o lectură esențială pentru a înțelege riscurile personale din spatele marilor titluri de știri și complexitatea identității imigranților în Europa modernă.
Descriere
For her whole life, Souad Mekhennet, a reporter for the Washington Post who was born and educated in Germany, has had to balance the two sides of her upbringing - Muslim and Western. She has also sought to provide a mediating voice between these cultures, which too often misunderstand each other.
In this compelling and evocative memoir, we accompany Mekhennet as she journeys behind the lines of jihad, starting in the German neighbourhoods where the 9/11 plotters were radicalised and the Iraqi neighbourhoods where Sunnis and Shia turned against one another, and culminating on the Turkish/Syrian border region where ISIS is a daily presence. In her travels across the Middle East and North Africa, she documents her chilling run-ins with various intelligence services and shows why the Arab Spring never lived up to its promise. She then returns to Europe, first in London, where she uncovers the identity of the notorious ISIS executioner 'Jihadi John', and then in France, Belgium and her native Germany, where terror has come to the heart of Western civilisation.
Mekhennet's background has given her unique access to some of the world's most wanted men, who generally refuse to speak to Western journalists. She is not afraid to face personal danger to reach out to individuals in the inner circles of Al Qaeda, the Taliban, ISIS and their affiliates; when she is told to come alone to an interview, she never knows what awaits at her destination.
Souad Mekhennet is an ideal guide to introduce us to the human beings behind the ominous headlines, as she shares her transformative journey with us. Hers is a story you will not soon forget.
Recenzii
'Mekhennet's book is much more than a book of journalism, admirable as hers is: it is a remarkable record of a Muslim woman struggling to understand those who kill in the name of her religion, and to explain their actions to the uncomprehending Western world to which she belongs' The Economist
Souad Mekhennet, a Muslim woman born and educated in Germany and now a reporter for the Washington Post, has spent her life balancing the two sides of her upbringing.
'Courageous, perceptive and deeply knowledgeable ' Jason Burke
The surprise delight of the year for me... from a woman who covered the rise of al-Qaida, the Arab spring and then Isis via a remarkable and at times personally risky series of interviews with jihadi leaders. But it's also a highly readable primer on the forces that gave rise to jihad, and an insight into the complexities of immigrant identity and loyalty... In a slippery post-truth world, her book is a reminder of just how much meticulously investigated and reported truths matter.
Gaby Hinscliffe, the Guardian Best Books of 2017
Winner of the Daniel Pearl Award
If only every journalist with Souad Mekhennet's culture-straddling perspective and access would write an incisive book like this. It will haunt you, because the truth on the page is vaster than anything we're usually offered
More than just a great narrative, I Was Told to Come Alone is a story for our time: a penetrating look at the roots of Islamist radicalism from a gifted and extraordinarily courageous journalist. Souad Mekhennet dares to confront the issues head-on, often at great personal risk, and she weaves her own experiences into an unforgettable and deeply absorbing tale. If you want to truly understand the nature of the crisis facing the West in the twenty-first century, this is the place to start
I Was Told to Come Alone reads like a thriller, as Souad Mekhennet takes us on a journey into the heart of the Muslim world. Mekhennet is a Western journalist who is female and Muslim, which gives her access that few reporters can match. Through her eyes we see how terrorism develops and that it produces no winners on either side. Her insights are sobering but deeply wise, and especially urgent today
Souad Mekhennet has written a fascinating memoir that functions on two levels. In the first, she is the daughter of Muslim immigrants to Germany, seeking ways to bridge these two worlds. In the second, she is an intrepid reporter investigating some of the most dangerous and important stories of recent years, and gaining unparalleled access to leading jihadist militants. Both stories are hers, and together they are truly compelling
This book is a monument to her professionalism, dedication and courage, but also as proof of her humanity: her ability always to see the human cost on both sides
An enthralling and sometimes shocking blend of reportage and memoir from the centers of jihadi networks in the Middle East and North Africa
One could hardly imagine a more suited writer . . . a brave, resourceful, canny and tireless reporter
Mekhennet's book is much more than a book of journalism, admirable as hers is: it is a remarkable record of a Muslim woman struggling to understand those who kill in the name of her religion, and to explain their actions to the uncomprehending Western world to which she belongs
The surprise delight of the year for me . . . remarkable and at times personally risky series of interviews with
jihadi leaders. But it's also a highly readable primer on the forces that gave rise to jihad, and an insight into the complexities of immigrant identity and loyalty . . . In a slippery post-truth world, her book is a reminder of just how much meticulously investigated and reported truths matter