A review by richardrbecker
Brothers of the Gun: A Memoir of the Syrian War by Molly Crabapple, Marwan Hisham
adventurous
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.0
If Brothers of the Gun by Marwan Hisham captures anything, it's the futility of trying to understand the Middle East. It's a place where revolutions are hijacked by secular extremists and/or terrorists, and those caught in the crosshairs are forced to choose sides — all of them wrong.
Take up arms and become terrorists. Defend their homes and become terrorist sympathizers. Leave the country and become rootless cowards.
In some ways, it's virtually the same story once told by T. E. Lawrence. His objective was always to make them stand on their own feet, but he could never influence them in peace as he could in war. Hisham says much the same thing. Once Syria followed the popular protests sweeping the Arba world, there was no turning back.
Somehow Hisham personally managed to strike a balance between these three options despite the danger of doing so. The would-be college student stayed home (aside from traveling to Turkey and Iraq) and covered the unrest for European media outlets. Most of his friends made other choices. Most of them were buried and left behind. A few die a different way, becoming unrecognizable from their once youthful dispositions.
Hisham covers it all. From the early protests to the ISIS takeover, and right up to a crumbling end as simultaneous confrontations with three rival coalitions became too much to overcome. Kurdish forces and their American allies, pro-Assad Syrian forces supported by Iran and Russia, and a Turkish-backed coalition of rebel groups. Except, there is no end to the conflict in Syria.
As Hisham notes: too many Syrians pick up the gun in the name of Islam, even if it means giving up their humanity. And in giving it up, there is nothing left to get back. The lesson makes it much more than someone's account of history. It's a warning for all of us.
Take up arms and become terrorists. Defend their homes and become terrorist sympathizers. Leave the country and become rootless cowards.
In some ways, it's virtually the same story once told by T. E. Lawrence. His objective was always to make them stand on their own feet, but he could never influence them in peace as he could in war. Hisham says much the same thing. Once Syria followed the popular protests sweeping the Arba world, there was no turning back.
Somehow Hisham personally managed to strike a balance between these three options despite the danger of doing so. The would-be college student stayed home (aside from traveling to Turkey and Iraq) and covered the unrest for European media outlets. Most of his friends made other choices. Most of them were buried and left behind. A few die a different way, becoming unrecognizable from their once youthful dispositions.
Hisham covers it all. From the early protests to the ISIS takeover, and right up to a crumbling end as simultaneous confrontations with three rival coalitions became too much to overcome. Kurdish forces and their American allies, pro-Assad Syrian forces supported by Iran and Russia, and a Turkish-backed coalition of rebel groups. Except, there is no end to the conflict in Syria.
As Hisham notes: too many Syrians pick up the gun in the name of Islam, even if it means giving up their humanity. And in giving it up, there is nothing left to get back. The lesson makes it much more than someone's account of history. It's a warning for all of us.