What do readers think of Days of Love and Rage by Anand Gopal? Write your own review.

This is a long book (almost 600 pages) and not for the faint of heart both for its length and the gripping story of a country's struggle for freedom (not always pretty but authentic in the telling). It's an authoritative and important read.

Spanning from 2011 to 2024, the book tells the story of the people who rose up in Syria to gain their freedom from the despotic authoritarian government of Bashar Al-Assad. Centered in Manjib, a city of ordinary people, the book is inspiring in its story of those who rose up against Al-Assad and the Islamic revolutionaries. In chronological order, the book tells of all the things these citizens did to counter the awfulness of these governments. Frankly at times I thought I was reading about Minneapolis and ICE actions in this country.

The author tells the story of several residents in Manjib (a list of all can be found the end of the book). He and local researchers conducted over 2000 interviews in developing this portrait. (Be sure to read the methodology sections at the end of the book.). This look into the intimate and painful moments of ordinary people engaged in a fight for freedom is painful at times to read but also eye opening in the importance freedom means to people.

It was very inspiring to read what people did - like elect a council to organize protests. As one reviewer pointed out this act of journalism yields an "important account of an uprising that shook the Middle East." It also as stated in the book shows how tyranny is a threat to democracy but inequality is what destroys democracy - an incredibly prescient statement in Today’s times. Anyone interested in the Middle East would find this a valuable asset to their library.