City of Thorns by Ben Rawlence
Named a 2016 Best of Book of the Year by The Economist
To the charity workers, Dadaab refugee camp is a humanitarian crisis; to the Kenyan government, it is a 'nursery for terrorists'; to the western media, it is a dangerous no-go area; but to its half a million residents, it is their last resort. Situated hundreds of miles from any other settlement, deep within the inhospitable desert of northern Kenya where only thorn bushes grow, Dadaab is a city like no other. Its buildings are made from mud, sticks or plastic, its entire economy is grey, and its citizens survive on rations and luck. Over the course of four years, Ben Rawlence became a first-hand witness to a strange and desperate limbo-land, getting to know many of those who have come there seeking sanctuary. Among them are Guled, a former child soldier who lives for football; Nisho, who scrapes an existence by pushing a wheelbarrow and dreaming of riches; Tawane, the indomitable youth leader; and schoolgirl Kheyro, whose future hangs upon her education. In City of Thorns, Rawlence interweaves the stories of nine individuals to show what life is like in the camp and to sketch the wider political forces that keep the refugees trapped there. Rawlence combines intimate storytelling with broad socio-political investigative journalism, doing for Dadaab what Katherinee Boo's Behind the Beautiful Forevers did for the Mumbai slums. Lucid, vivid and illuminating, City of Thorns is an urgent human story with deep international repercussions, brought to life through the people who call Dadaab home.Ben Rawlence is a former Human Rights Watch researcher in the Horn of Africa. He is the author of Radio Congo and has contributed to the Guardian, the London Review of Books, and Prospect, among other publications. With his wife and children, he lives in the Black Mountains of Wales.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781250067630 |
| ISBN 10 | 1250067634 |
| Title | City of Thorns |
| Author | Ben Rawlence |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Picador USA |
| Year published | 2016-01-05 |
| Number of pages | 400 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |