The Morning They Came For Us: Dispatches from Syria Paperback – May 9, 2017

Dear Janine Di Giovanni- congratulations on your book ' The Morning They Came For Us'. I finished it in one sitting, unable to stop turning the pages. It is the ONLY book where I have read ALL the materials after the end- the epilogue and the chilling appendices. Your ability to see both beauty and brutality in the setting of mankind's worst inhumanity is remarkable. As a physician I was especially touched by the plight of doctor's whether tending to the civilian victims or the instruments of the regime. As a writer I was moved by your suffering bearing witness to the unbearable. As a woman without children I was deeply affected by how children touched you- their feeble slippers 'on icy mud' and their 'purple toes', their silent eyes, their protests at leaving for the bread queue, their astonishment at being shot at my young soldiers or finding themselves seat belted next to a murdered sibling. As a MUSLIM, I am heartbroken to know the detail of such suffering of MUSLIMS at the hands of MUSLIMS in such gruesome and evocative testimony. As a naturalized American and as a native born British citizen I am most sickened by our inaction in the face of what I accurately or inaccurately perceive as genocide which is approaching unthinkable dimensions at a rapid velocity. This I find to be the greatest inhumanity of all - the disregard and indifference of the elite world which now harbors such animus towards MUSLIMS that only Christian refugees are welcomed by political populism in the West that only Yazidis elicit the empathy every displaced dismembered and decimated Syrian family deserves. And this apart the incredible disregard for full MILLIONS of displaced and dispossessed. I feel, and deeply sense in the public dismantling of Syria, we are witnessing our own dismemberment as the human race, our own descent into civilizational decay and our own inexorable advance to a new and escalating global decline which we have authored by our very own hand. Your words, your experiences are invaluable but I understand come at a devastating price for you and your family. We are indebted to you for your courage and heart and fortitudes. We are indebted to your family for your sacrifices. For this and for so much else, I salute you. Qanta Ahmed MD, Author, " In the Land of Invisible Women.

This is a quick read and the chronology charts at the end are invaluable in deciphering all the chaos over in Syria. I picked this up after seeing the author on C-SPAN and wanting to hear the stories of her as a journalist over there as well as the locals she spoke with. I wish she had more local interviews-they were most telling, but devastating too. She does a good job in outlining the history of fighting in the area (and peace as well) but what we have now and in the past decade, has been so chaotic and confusing, with overlapping ideals, it is hard to follow in terms of-what now? What do we do to help if anything? It's clear these people love their homeland and want to be there. But they are being forced to flee. At one point they all id'd as Syrians, versus religious divisions. How can they get back to that point? Can they? The author of course, cannot have the answer, but I would have liked for her to interview a few officials who might have thrown out a few possibilities.

These dispatches from 2012 remind us that while war is waged collectively, on whole populations, suffering is on an individual level, felt by each and every person. In this respect, this book is as much about all war as it is the civil war in Syria.Torture,death, maiming, injury are parts of all wars, but the suffering visits each one by one, and is endured individually. Identities are destroyed by war, which this book so graphically illustrates. The writer's accomplishment here that she has made this so clear.I've been involved in humanitarian and human rights work for decades, and worked with torture victims from the Bosnian war. However, the graphic descriptions of torture here are harrowing and difficult to read, and the suffering of the victims difficult to comprehend. Torture can be justified for any reason in the minds of those who use it. This is made clear by the comments of the perpetrators here. In this respect as well, this book is about the use of torture throughout history; the motives are the same, the victims dehumanized, their suffering justified. It winds together the human capacity to justify torture, and war, and to rationalized its use: from early human history to the Nazis to the Khmer Rouge to the Russian gulags to our own country's use by the Bush administration, its use is always justified in the minds of the torturers.Also, in this and other ways, this book shows how the fabric of society--the collective experience of whole populations--breaks down and becomes fragmented in war. Like in Bosnia, these Syrian people who once identified as "Syrian" broke down into smaller tribes and factions. War destroys commonalities and can make neighbors and relatives enemies.Last, what further makes this such a painful read is that the Syrian war is ongoing--still going strong and mercilessly. For those who are surviving through it, their suffering continues day after day, by each and every one.

I thought this book was a great read, not only because of the intriguing content, but also due to the nature of the book's content. I think it's important for people to read this, because it really opens up your eyes. It helped me to better understand the conflict in Syria, I now have a better understanding of the obstacles civilians face on a daily basis, which I think is an important thing to make me a more open minded, and appreciative person. It's also important to be open to the opposing side's argument. For example, I always thought that Bashar Al-Assad was bad and the rebels were good. I still believe Bashar Al-Assad is bad, but I question the justification of the rebels. Janine Di Giovanni interviewed several people who claimed that the rebels were acting too soon, as they did need a change in the government, but it was too soon for that change.

A great read, rough, honest about a war and one idiot that only made a population leave a beautiful country.

one of many books we have been reading on similar topics and this one, as many of the others provides lots of information

The Morning They Came for Us was an emotional, yet intellectual read. By page 19, I found myself disgusted at the atrocities one human can inflict on another. I was surprised at the lack of bias in the book - Janine di Giovanni does a good job at exploring the perspectives of outsiders, Assad supporters and rebels.I, like many Americans, did not understand the conflict in Syria well enough. After finishing this book, I believe I have a firm understanding of the reasons behind the Syrian civil war and the reasons that other countries refuse to engage in more conflict with Syria. The Morning They Came for Us serves as a reminder that above all, we are all human. 'Every soldier is someone's child.'

read this and be forever grateful that you live in a democracydevastating but we have to face the reality of Syria and the brutality of its governmenttruly shocking and human rights are just ignored

It's a three-star review as it really is more just a collection of articles than a book in the traditional sense, but it's an extremely important and current story that many of us should know much more about so I do thoroughly recommend reading it now, in 2017.