City of Thorns Paperback by Ben Rawlence

Product Details

• Publisher: Vintage Canada (2016-09-20)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 400 pages
• ISBN-13: 9780345815156
• Item Weight: 358.34 grams
• Dimensions: 7.97 x 5.19 x 1.09 cm

To charity workers, Dadaab refugee camp is a humanitarian crisis; to the Kenyan government, it's a "nursery for terrorists"; to the western media, it's 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, in the midst of the inhospitable desert of northern Kenya where only thorn bushes grow, Dadaab is a city like no other. Its buildings are made from mud 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 the individuals who have sought sanctuary in the camp. Among them are Guled, a former child soldier who lives for soccer; Nisho, who scrapes together an existence by pushing a wheelbarrow and dreaming of riches; Tawane, the indomitable youth leader; and schoolgirl Kheyro, whose future hangs upon her education.
     With deep compassion and rare eloquence, 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. Lucid, vivid and illuminating, City of Thorns is an urgent human story with profound international repercussions, brought to life through the people who call Dadaab home.

About the Author

BEN RAWLENCE is a former researcher for Human Rights Watch in the Horn of Africa. He is the author of Radio Congo, and has written for a wide range of publications including The Guardian, the London Review of Books and Prospect. He lives in Wales with his wife and daughter. The author lives in Wales.