Syria's secret library : reading and redemption in a town under siege /
Daraya lies on the fringe of Damascus, just southwest of the Syrian capital. Yet for four years, it lived in another world. Besieged by government forces early in the Syrian Civil War, its people were deprived of food, bombarded by heavy artillery and under the constant fire of snipers. But deep ben...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York :
Public Affairs,
[2019]
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| Edition: | First US edition. |
| Subjects: |
| Summary: | Daraya lies on the fringe of Damascus, just southwest of the Syrian capital. Yet for four years, it lived in another world. Besieged by government forces early in the Syrian Civil War, its people were deprived of food, bombarded by heavy artillery and under the constant fire of snipers. But deep beneath this scene of frightening devastation lay a hidden library. While the streets above echoed with shelling and rifle fire, the secret world below was a haven of books. Long rows of well-thumbed volumes lined almost every wall, bloated editions with grand leather covers, pocket-sized guides to Syrian poetry and no-nonsense reference books, all arranged in well-ordered lines. But this precious horde was not bought from publishers or loaned by other libraries. They were the books salvaged and scavenged at great personal risk from the doomed city above. |
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| Item Description: | "Originally published in the United Kingdom in 2019 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, an imprint of the Orion Publishing Group, Ltd."--Colophon. |
| Physical Description: | 305 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of color plates : illustrations ; 25 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 301-303). |
| ISBN: | 9781541767621 1541767624 |