Amid armed conflicts continuing in Gaza, this week we look at five thought-provoking books that explore the brutality of wars, their profound impact on people and communities, and the pursuit of peace.
The Morning They Came For Us: Dispatches from Syria by Janine di Giovanni
War journalist Janine di Giovanni offers a compelling first-hand account of the brutal conflict in Syria when she travelled there in 2012. Drawing from interviews and her personal experiences, the book delves into civil war and highlights the stories of ordinary people caught up in it.
“And this is the worse part of it – when you realise that what separates you, someone who can leave, from someone who is trapped in Aleppo, or Homs or Douma or Darayya, is that you can walk away and go back to your home with electricity and sliced bread; then you begin to feel ashamed to be human.”
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How to Feed a Dictator by Witold Szabłowski
The award-winning Polish author explores what it is like cooking for the 20th century’s most notorious dictators. The book discusses Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge’s totalitarian regime that led to more than one million deaths in Cambodia. Also featured is Ugandan military officer and politician Idi Amin, who was known for his human rights abuses and political repression.
“What did Saddam Hussein eat after giving the order for tens of thousands of Kurds to be gassed? Didn’t he have a stomach ache? And what was Pol Pot eating while almost two million Cambodians were dying of hunger?”
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Written by a German veteran of World War I, this gripping novel follows the harrowing experiences of German soldiers as they endure the horrors of warfare on the Western Front. It offers an unflinching portrayal of the soldiers’ physical and mental trauma, exploring themes such as disillusionment and the brutality of war while reflecting on the human cost.
“I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow.”
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War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Set during the Napoleonic era, this monumental work navigates the tumultuous events of war, the pursuit of peace and the human capacity for growth and transformation.
“We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.”
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
Through a collection of interconnected stories, this book delves into the physical and emotional burdens American soldiers carried during the Vietnam war. It depicts the weight of the soldiers’ personal belongings, memories, fears, and moral dilemmas, delving deep into the human psyche in war.
“They carried all they could bear, and then some, including a silent awe for the terrible power of the things they carried.”
