A Country of Words : A Palestinian Journey from the Refugee Camp to the Front Page - Abdel-Bari Atwan

A Country of Words

A Palestinian Journey from the Refugee Camp to the Front Page

By: Abdel-Bari Atwan

Hardcover | 26 September 2008 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Hardcover


$49.25

or 4 interest-free payments of $12.31 with

 or 

Aims to ship in 10 to 15 business days

“Atwan's 1996 interview with bin Laden in his Afghanistan redoubt was one of the first and remains one of the best. Atwan ‘got it’ from the moment bin Laden appeared on the scene. . . . What many [Muslims] hate is not the American people but American foreign policy.”—Michael Scheuer, the founding head of the CIA's Osama bin Laden unit, in The Washington Post review of The Secret Life of al-Qa'ida

In A Country of Words, Abdel Bari Atwan shares his many extraordinary encounters, including tea with Margaret Thatcher, a weekend with Osama bin Laden, intimate meetings with Yasser Arafat, and the row between Colonel Gaddafi and the Shah of Iran that earned him his first journalistic break. But his is also a touching personal journey, none more so than when he describes taking his London-born children back to meet his family living in a Palestinian refugee camp.

I was offered a bed, sharing a cave with Osama bin Laden himself. This “bed” was a mattress lying across several crates of grenades, with an arsenal of rifles and machine guns suspended from the ceiling above, which—together with a cockerel outside who wouldn't stop crowing—did not make for an easy night’s sleep. Bin Laden had no such problems and slumbered like a baby until dawn, his kalashnikov at his side.

Born in Gaza in 1950, Abdel Bari Atwan left at age seventeen and has since become one of the world’s foremost commentators on the Middle East. For the last twenty years he has edited the independent Arabic daily, London-based al-Quds al-Arabi. He is the author of The Secret History of al-Qa'ida.

Industry Reviews
'A penetrating insight into the world as seen from the point of view of someone born and bred a Palestinian refugee in a Gaza camp ... Atwan's authentic voice and sharp, descriptive writing brings alive a lifetime spent deep in the travails of the Middle Eastern tragedy.' Polly Toynbee 'Atwan's enthralling memoir charts his meteoric rise from shoeless urchin in the 1950s to cultured commentator whose opinion is now sought all over the world - A Country of Words combines in-depth analysis with a welcome dose of the personal - A skilful raconteur' Tribune Magazine 'A Country of Words traces [Atwan's] life in greater detail while also offering chapters on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, London, and his fascinating interviews with Osama Bin Laden and Yasser Arafat.' The Middle East in London 'A remarkable Palestinian memoir, exceptional because of its abundance of compassion, humor and humility' Electronic Intifada

More in Autobiographies

The Showman - Glenn Maxwell

Paperback

RRP $36.99

$33.25

10%
OFF
Big Garden Design : The making of beautiful country gardens - Paul Bangay
Cordially Invited - Zoe Sugg

RRP $39.99

$14.95

63%
OFF
The Happiest Refugee : My Journey from Tragedy to Comedy - Anh Do
The Last Paradise : Imprint Lives - Tom Cole

RRP $24.99

$23.75

Night : Penguin Modern Classics - Elie Wiesel

RRP $22.99

$17.75

23%
OFF
Heartstrong : Chumpy, Minnie & Me - Ellidy Pullin

RRP $34.99

$31.75

Kitchen Confidential : Insider's Edition - Anthony Bourdain

RRP $24.99

$23.75

A Mother's Story - Rosie Batty

RRP $27.99

$20.90

25%
OFF