Godfathers and Thieves: How Syria's Diaspora Crowd-Sourced a

Godfathers and Thieves: How Syria's Diaspora Crowd-Sourced a Revolution (Kindle Single)

When the Arab Spring began, Syrian businessman Mezyan Al Barazi had been abroad for more than a decade, trying to forget his distant home. Corruption under the vicious Assad dictatorship had sabotaged his studies as a young man and bankrupted his business as an adult, sending him into self-imposed exile in Dubai. But then, after watching videos of protesters on the streets of Damascus, Mezyan saw his chance to win Syria back from a ruthless regime. Risking the comfortable life he had built abroad, he devoted himself to the revolution.

In Godfathers and Thieves, journalist Elizabeth Dickinson, author of the acclaimed Who Shot Ahmed, describes how an underground network of exiles moved millions of dollars of medicine, clothes, and weapons from the high-rises of Dubai to the frontlines of Damascus. This is the story of how the Syrian diaspora crowdfunded a revolutionâ€”and was itself imperiled and ultimately transformed.

Informed by nearly 50 interviews in half a dozen countries, Godfathers and Thieves is a page-turning tale of homesickness and war, of spies and smugglers, of battlefield checkpoints and innocuous suburban homes secretly filled with supplies. Abu Dhabi-based Dickinson masterfully captures the world of Syriaâ€™s exiles, neighbors brought together by an epic struggle, who risked everything in a desperate attempt to save their fractured nation.

EARLY PRAISE FOR GODFATHERS AND THIEVES
"Elizabeth Dickinson illuminates a small corner of the Syrian crisis to explain the larger picture. With her engaging and detailed reporting she explores the relationship between Syriaâ€™s diaspora and a popular uprising that seemed to finally realize the dream for a â€˜betterâ€™ Syria shared inside and outside Syria. This is a â€˜must readâ€™ to understand the dynamics of a complicated crisis. Dickinson captures the dedication and disillusion in equal measure. Bravo."
â€”Deborah Amos, International Correspondent, NPR News

Godfathers and Thieves is a remarkable book on a key aspect of the Syrian conflict. The involvement of Syria's expats in the protest movement is often eclipsed by the sacrifices of the brave men and women on the ground. But as this magisterial piece of journalism shows, Syrians outside the country faced immense challenges as they grappled with how to continue to support the cause as it devolved from a peaceful movement to a bloody armed resistance."
â€”Hassan Hassan, author of New York Times bestseller ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror

â€œThe Syrian conflict is many things: a revolution for rights and dignity, the unraveling of a state, a sectarian war, a geopolitical competition, and an unprecedented humanitarian tragedy. It is also the sum of individual choices, actions and histories of normal Syrians. Elizabeth Dickinson, in her reporting and now in this book, masterfully tells the stories of Syrians living abroad who have been inspired by the uprising and fueled it, only to be later overwhelmed by its transformations. These stories are no less important to Syria's future than the geopolitical intrigue and military and political battles that dominate the news.â€
â€”Emile Hokayem, author of Syriaâ€™s Uprising and the Fracturing of the Levant

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Elizabeth Dickinsonâ€™s writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The Economist, Politico Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and the Financial Times,. She was the first Western journalist to chronicle the Kuwaiti donor network funding Syria's opposition and has written extensively about Gulf financing of conflict. Dickinson is the author of Who Shot Ahmed, the true life mystery of a 22-year-old videographer shot at the height of Bahrainâ€™s Arab Spring. She is a former Gulf Correspondent for The National newspaper, editor at Foreign Policy magazine, and Nigeria correspondent for The Economist.

Country	USA
Author	Elizabeth Dickinson
Binding	Kindle Edition
Format	Kindle eBook
IsAdultProduct
Label	Deca Stories, LLC
Manufacturer	Deca Stories, LLC
NumberOfPages	50
PublicationDate	2015-09-09
Publisher	Deca Stories, LLC
ReleaseDate	2015-09-09
Studio	Deca Stories, LLC

Godfathers and Thieves: How Syria's Diaspora Crowd-Sourced a Revolution (Kindle Single)

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