rayyan al shawaf

‘Nowhere to Run To’

Rayyan Al-Shawaf / Truthdig Apr 27, 2019 A young Iraqi man attending college in Florida sees his life upended by 9/11 in this excerpt from the novel "When All Else Fails." Dig deeper ( 9 Min. Read )

Rot and Rehabilitation in the American Penal System

Rayyan Al-Shawaf / Truthdig Jul 13, 2018 Rachel Kushner's new novel set in a women's prison brims with morally tainted characters who are also victims of repressive and dehumanizing incarceration. Dig deeper ( 6 Min. Read )

Overreach

By Rayyan Al-Shawaf Jan 9, 2015 A new book is arguably the best account of what went wrong with the project to turn Baathist Iraq into a liberal democracy, but flawed by the insistence that failure was inevitable due to Iraq's sociopolitical realities. Dig deeper ( 6 Min. Read )

The House With a Sunken Courtyard

Rayyan Al-Shawaf / Truthdig Jan 3, 2014 The narrator of this Korean novel recalls the year that his family spent living alongside four other struggling families in the cramped quarters of a formerly grand old house in the wake of the Korean War. Dig deeper ( 6 Min. Read )

Pink Sari Revolution

Rayyan Al-Shawaf / Truthdig Aug 17, 2013 This is the story of India's Pink Gang, a grass-roots movement that confronts Indian officialdom over the rights of the poor and the marginalized, especially women.This book tells the story of India's Pink Gang, a grass-roots movement that confronts Indian officialdom over the rights of the poor and the marginalized, especially women. Dig deeper ( 7 Min. Read )