Fouad Ajami writes on Khaled Khalifa’s novel about the Syrian revolution in a preview from the upcoming magazine:
“The narrow streets are soon surrounded by tanks that—in Khalifa’s unforgettable image—block the flight of birds. ‘It was left to future generations to tell that all this was madness that could have been avoided so as to give life to children who loved to jump into the Orontes river from waterwheels whose sound was the one true expression of yearning for the past. The bereaved mothers would don black garments that they swore they would never take off. Many mothers went out into the streets, half-naked, lamenting the city in poetry that would make the stones weep.’ “
—Fouad Ajami, “The Honor of Aleppo”.
