Omar El Akkad

“Powerful . . . As haunting a postapocalyptic universe as Cormac McCarthy [created] in The Road, and as devastating a look as the fallout that national events have on an American family as Philip Roth did in The Plot Against America. . . . Omar El Akkad’s debut novel, American War, is an unlikely mash-up of unsparing war reporting and plot elements familiar to readers of the recent young-adult dystopian series The Hunger Games and Divergent.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times An audacious and powerful debut novel: a second American Civil War, a devastating plague, and one family caught deep in the middle—a story that asks what might happen if America were to turn its most devastating policies and deadly weapons upon itself. Sarat Chestnut, born in Louisiana, is only six when the Second American Civil War breaks out in 2074. But even she knows that oil is outlawed, that Louisiana is half underwater, and that unmanned drones fill the sky. When her father is killed and her family is forced into Camp Patience for displaced persons, she begins to grow up shaped by her particular time and place. But not everyone at Camp Patience is who they claim to be. Eventually Sarat is befriended by a mysterious functionary, under whose influence she is turned into a deadly instrument of war. The decisions that she makes will have tremendous consequences not just for Sarat but for her family and her country, rippling through generations of strangers and kin alike.

American War

One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

"More bodies have washed up on the shores of a small island. Another over-filled, ill-equipped, dilapidated ship has sunk under the weight of its too many passengers: Syrians, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Lebanese, Palestinians, all of them desperate to escape untenable lives in their homelands. And only one has made the passage: nine-year-old Amir, a Syrian boy who has the good fortune to fall into the hands not of the officials but of Vänna: a teenage girl, native to the island, who lives inside her own sense of homelessness in a place and among people she has come to disdain. And though she and the boy are complete strangers, though they don't speak a common language, she determines to do whatever it takes to save him. In alternating chapters, we learn the story of the boy's life and of how he came to be on the boat; and we follow the girl and boy as they make their way toward a vision of safety. But as the novel unfurls we begin to understand that this is not merely the story of two children finding their way through a hostile world, it is the story of our collective moment in this time: of empathy and indifference, of hope and despair--and of the way each of those things can blind us to reality, or guide us to a better one"--

What Strange Paradise

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • PALESTINE BOOK AWARD WINNER • From award-winning novelist and journalist Omar El Akkad comes a powerful reckoning with what it means to live in a West that betrays its fundamental values. "[A] bracing memoir and manifesto." —The New York Times "I can’t think of a more important piece of writing to read right now. I found hope here, and help, to face what the world is now, all that it isn’t anymore. Please read this. I promise you won’t regret it." —Tommy Orange, bestselling author of Wandering Stars and There There On October 25, 2023, after just three weeks of the bombardment of Gaza, Omar El Akkad put out a tweet: “One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.” This tweet has been viewed more than 10 million times. As an immigrant who came to the West, El Akkad believed that it promised freedom. A place of justice for all. But in the past twenty years, reporting on the War on Terror, Ferguson, climate change, Black Lives Matter protests, and more, and watching the unmitigated slaughter in Gaza, El Akkad has come to the conclusion that much of what the West promises is a lie. That there will always be entire groups of human beings it has never intended to treat as fully human—not just Arabs or Muslims or immigrants, but whoever falls outside the boundaries of privilege. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This is a chronicle of that painful realization, a moral grappling with what it means, as a citizen of the U.S., as a father, to carve out some sense of possibility in a time of carnage. This is El Akkad’s nonfiction debut, his most raw and vulnerable work to date, a heartsick breakup letter with the West. It is a brilliant articulation of the same breakup we are watching all over the United States, in family rooms, on college campuses, on city streets; the consequences of this rupture are just beginning. This book is for all the people who want something better than what the West has served up. This is the book for our time.

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This: National Book Award

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR • From the widely acclaimed, bestselling author of American War—a beautifully written, unrelentingly dramatic, and profoundly moving novel that looks at the global refugee crisis through the eyes of a child. More bodies have washed up on the shores of a small island. Another overfilled, ill-equipped, dilapidated ship has sunk under the weight of its too many passengers: Syrians, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Lebanese, Palestinians, all of them desperate to escape untenable lives back in their homelands. But miraculously, someone has survived the passage: nine-year-old Amir, a Syrian boy who is soon rescued by Vänna. Vänna is a teenage girl, who, despite being native to the island, experiences her own sense of homelessness in a place and among people she has come to disdain. And though Vänna and Amir are complete strangers, though they don’t speak a common language, Vänna is determined to do whatever it takes to save the boy. In alternating chapters, we learn about Amir’s life and how he came to be on the boat, and we follow him and the girl as they make their way toward safety. What Strange Paradise is the story of two children finding their way through a hostile world. But it is also a story of empathy and indifference, of hope and despair—and about the way each of those things can blind us to reality.

A novel

From award-winning novelist and journalist Omar El Akkad comes a powerful reckoning with what it means to live in the heart of an empire that doesn’t consider you fully human. On October 25th, 2023, after just three weeks of the bombardment of Gaza, Omar El Akkad put out a tweet: “One day, when it's safe, when there's no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it's too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.” This tweet was viewed more than ten million times. One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This chronicles the deep fracture that has occurred for Black, brown, Indigenous Americans, as well as the upcoming generation, many of whom had clung to a thread of faith in Western ideals, in the idea that their countries, or the countries of their adoption, actually attempted to live up to the values they espouse. This book is a reckoning with what it means to live in the West, and what it means to live in a world run by a small group of countries—America, the UK, France, and Germany. It will be The Fire Next Time for a generation that understands we're undergoing a shift in the so-called “rules-based order,” a generation that understands the West can no longer be trusted to police and guide the world, or its own cities and campuses. It draws on intimate details of Omar's own story as an emigrant who grew up believing in the Western project, who was catapulted into journalism by the rupture of 9/11. This book is El Akkad's heartsick breakup letter with the West. It is a breakup we are watching all over the United States, on college campuses, on city streets, and the consequences of this rupture will be felt by all of us. His book is for all the people who want something better than what the West has served up. This is the book for our time.

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

"An audacious and powerful debut novel: a second American Civil War, a devastating plague, and one family caught deep in the middle--a story that asks what might happen if America were to turn its most devastating policies and deadly weapons upon itself. Sarat Chestnut, born in Louisiana, is only six when the Second American Civil War breaks out in 2074. But even she knows that oil is outlawed, that Louisiana is half underwater, and that unmanned drones fill the sky. When her father is killed and her family is forced into Camp Patience for displaced persons, she begins to grow up shaped by her particular time and place. But not everyone at Camp Patience is who they claim to be. Eventually Sarat is befriended by a mysterious functionary, under whose influence she is turned into a deadly instrument of war. The decisions that she makes will have tremendous consequences not just for Sarat but for her family and her country, rippling through generations of strangers and kin alike"--

American war

O relato de uma América futura despedaçada pelas suas divisões políticas, tribais e humanas. Sarat Chestnut nasceu no Louisiana e tem apenas seis anos quando a Segunda Guerra Civil Americana eclode em 2074. Mas até ela sabe que o petróleo é proibido, que metade do Louisiana está submerso e que drones não tripulados sobrevoam os céus. Quando o seu pai é morto e a sua família é obrigada a viver num campo de refugiados, ela rapidamente começa a ser moldada por esse tempo e lugar até que, finalmente, pela influência de um misterioso funcionário, se transforma num instrumento mortífero da guerra. A sua história é contada pelo seu neto, Benjamin Chestnut, que nasceu durante a guerra - parte da Geração Milagrosa - e é agora um idoso a confrontar os segredos negros do passado, do papel da sua família no conflito e, em particular, a importância da sua tia, uma mulher que salvou a sua vida ao destruir a de outros.

Guerra Americana

Als het Noorden fossiele brandstoffen verbiedt en het Zuiden zich verzet, woedt tussen 2074 en 2095 de tweede Amerikaanse Burgeroorlog.

An audacious and powerful debut novel"An extraordinary novel." Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven"American War, a work of a singular, grand, brilliant imagination, is a warning shot across the bow of the United States." David Means, author of HystopiaSarat Chestnut, born in Louisiana, is only six when the Second American Civil War breaks out in 2074. But even she knows that oil is outlawed, that Louisiana is half underwater, that unmanned drones fill the sky. And when her father is killed and her family is forced into Camp Patience for displaced persons, she quickly begins to be shaped by her particular time and place until, finally, through the influence of a mysterious functionary, she is turned into a deadly instrument of war. Telling her story is her nephew, Benjamin Chestnut, born during war - part of the Miraculous Generation - now an old man confronting the dark secret of his past, his family's role in the conflict and, in particular, that of his aunt, a woman who saved his life while destroying untold others.A second American Civil War, a devastating plague, and one family caught deep in the middle - a story that asks what might happen if America were to turn its most devastating policies and deadly weapons upon itself.

American War: A novel (Random House Large Print)

»American War« - das Buch der Stunde. »Ein gewaltiger Roman«, schreibt die renommierteste Literaturkritikerin der USA, Michiko Kakutani. Ein Roman über den nächsten amerikanischen Bürgerkrieg und das dramatische Schicksal einer Familie. Was wird sein, wenn die erschütternde Realität der Gegenwart - Drohnenangriffe, Folter, Selbstmordattentate und die Folgen von Umweltkatastrophen - mit aller Gewalt in die USA zurückkehrt? Vor diesem Hintergrund entfaltet Omar El Akkad mit großer erzählerischer Kraft den dramatischen Kampf der jungen Sarat Chestnut, die beschließt, mit allen Mitteln für das Überleben zu kämpfen. »American War« ist in den USA ein literarisches Ereignis, das schon jetzt mit Cormac McCarthy »Die Straße« und Philip Roth »Verschwörung gegen Amerika« verglichen wird.

Roman

«Un llibre únic i molt necessari», Naomi Klein El 25 d'octubre de 2023, tot just tres setmanes després del bombardeig de Gaza, Omar El Akkad va tuitejar: «Algun dia, quan ja no sigui perillós, quan dir les coses pel seu nom ja no tingui conseqüències, quan sigui massa tard per exigir responsabilitats a ningú, tothom hi haurà estat sempre en contra». El tuit va tenir més de 10 milions de visualitzacions. Com a immigrant nascut a Egipte i instal·lat al món occidental des de molt jove, Omar El Akkad estava convençut que Occident era una terra de llibertat i justícia. Però en els últims vint anys, durant els quals ha exercit de periodista en primeríssima línia i ha sigut testimoni de la matança indiscriminada de la població de Gaza per part d'Israel, ha arribat a la conclusió que la base moral sobre la qual s'ha erigit el món Occidental és una gran mentida. Algun dia tothom hi haurà estat sempre en contra és una crònica punyent i incomòda que clama contra el silenci eixordador dels mitjans de comunicació europeus i americans, de la classe política en general —i, molt concretament, de les esquerres benpensants—, i denuncia la incapacitat i les trampes del llenguatge a l'hora de descriure les atrocitats que s'estan cometent a Gaza i les conseqüències devastadores de no prendre partit, de no mullar-se i, en definitiva, de no empatitzar amb els altres. Un llibre cru i trasbalsador, imprescindible. «Una acusació ferotge i angoixant a la indiferència occidental respecte a la destrucció de Gaza en mans d'Israel. Un testimoni terrorífic, vergonyant i necessari», Booklist «En part elegia, en part crit de guerra, aquest magnífic llibre hauria de ser, i serà, lectura obligatòria per a les generacions futures que intentin encarar-se a un dels capítols més foscos de la humanitat», Téa Obreht «Un llibre sorprenent, impactant, bellíssim i essencial. Em va commocionar», Brian Eno

Algun dia tothom hi haurà estat en contra

Shortlisted for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize A Globe and Mail Best Book A New York Times Notable Book of the Year A Quill & Quire Best Book of 2017 An audacious and powerful debut novel: a second American Civil War, a devastating plague, and one family caught deep in the middle -- a story that asks what might happen if America were to turn its most devastating policies and deadly weapons upon itself. Sarat Chestnut, born in Louisiana, is only six when the Second American Civil War breaks out in 2074. But even she knows that oil is outlawed, that Louisiana is half underwater, that unmanned drones fill the sky. And when her father is killed and her family is forced into Camp Patience for displaced persons, she quickly begins to be shaped by her particular time and place until, finally, through the influence of a mysterious functionary, she is turned into a deadly instrument of war. Telling her story is her nephew, Benjamin Chestnut, born during war as one of the Miraculous Generation and now an old man confronting the dark secret of his past -- his family's role in the conflict and, in particular, that of his aunt, a woman who saved his life while destroying untold others.

A Novel

"Un jour, tout le monde aura toujours été contre ça". Cette phrase, écrite au coeur du carnage, est devenue un cri, miroir tendu à l'hypocrisie collective. Omar El Akkad dénonce le silence complice de l'Occident face au massacre de Gaza. Mêlant mémoire, reportage et réflexion politique, il interroge les postures morales vidées de sens, la passivité des progressistes, l'oubli organisé. Un livre sur la justice, la mémoire et la responsabilité. Mona Chollet : le livre d'Omar El Akkad constitue ce qui peut s'approcher le plus d'une consolation. Consolation de découvrir que quelqu'un est capable d'appliquer à ces événements autant d'intelligence et de sensibilité, rendant justice aux victimes.

Omar El Akkad

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