Janine di Giovanni Boeken

Wat in 2011 in Syrië begon als een vreedzame opstand, ontwikkelde zich tot een van de meest wrede, moorddadige conflicten in de recente geschiedenis. Studenten zien hun strijd voor democratie en vrijheid ontaarden in een burgeroorlog; rebellen belanden bij de minste provocatie in de gevangenis; kinderen en gezinnen moeten toezien hoe hun dierbaren op basis van dubieuze aanklachten door het regime worden meegenomen of vermoord; elitefamilies verschansen zich in dure hotels en wenden hun blik af van de verschrikkingen buiten: in De dag dat ze ons kwamen halen vertelt oorlogscorrespondent Di Giovanni de verhalen van gewone Syriërs die getroffen worden door het conflict. Bevlogen, onverschrokken en inlevend beschrijft ze een land op de rand van de afgrond en schetst een apocalyptisch maar tegelijkertijd teder beeld van het dagelijks leven in de frontlinie. Dit felle, prachtig geschreven boek is een onvergetelijk bewijs van de veerkracht van de mens wanneer hij wordt geconfronteerd met de verwoestende, onvoorstelbare gruwelen van oorlog.

Award-winning journalist Janine di Giovanni spent much of the 1990s observing the cycles of Balkan violence and vengeance from inside the cities and villages, from refugee camps, makeshift hospitals, and the homes of citizens under siege. Now, she paints an indelible portrait of the war through the staggering experiences of the people who suffered it. It was a conflict that raised challenging What causes neighbours whose families have lived peacefully side by side for centuries to turn with mindless brutality against one another? How do we measure the difference between bravery and cowardice in a conflict so morally ill-defined? What becomes of survivors when the fabric of an age-old community is permanently destroyed? Searching for the answers, di Giovanni brings the human face of war into piercing children dying from lack of medicine, soldiers numbed by and inured to the atrocities they committed; women driven to despair and madness by their experiences in paramilitary rape camps. Acutely perceptive, unflinching, powerfully written - "Madness Visible" will join the work of John Reed, Martha Gelhorn, Michael Herr and Ryszard Kapuscinski as a classic of its time.

War is a collective matter. It involves nations, factions, and religions. However, it is also a personal affair. War is made by people and lived by people: the one who kills and the one who is killed, the one who becomes disabled and the one who sees their home bombed, the one who fights at the front and the one who watches helplessly as their life, as they knew it until then, collapses. In this book, Janine di Giovanni—the most significant war correspondent of her generation—does not make geopolitical analyses. She does not view war from above. She observes it from within, through the eyes of the people experiencing it. She narrates the stories of soldiers, both from the government army and the opposition, of the tortured, of civilians, of mothers, of children. She captures primal, physical feelings: pain, loss, brutality, horror. She records the smells of war, the sounds, the cold, the mud. She documents fears and hopes, mourning and devastation. Through dozens of human stories—the stories of Nanda, Mariam, Hussein, Mohamed, Abdullah, Carla—the author composes a poignant mural of a society that is devouring itself, driven into a fratricidal war and the greatest tragedy of our time.

At once necessary, difficult and elating. Her reporting from the Syrian revolution and war is clear-eyed and engaged in the best sense - engaged in the human realm rather than the abstractly political. . . . Such reporters as Giovanni, who not only visit but also live (and often die) through wars not their own, are heroic Robin Yassin-Kassab Guardian

Some of the countries that first nurtured and characterized Christianity - along the North African Coast, on the Euphrates and across the Middle East and Arabia - are the ones in which it is likely to first go extinct. Christians are already vanishing. We are past the tipping point, now tilted toward the end of Christianity in its historical homeland. Christians have fled the lands where their prophets wandered, where Jesus Christ preached, where the great Doctors and hierarchs of the early church established the doctrinal norms that would last millennia. From Syria to Egypt, the cities of northern Iraq to the Gaza Strip, ancient communities, the birthplaces of prophets and saints, are losing any living connection to the religion that once was such a characteristic feature of their social and cultural lives. In The Vanishing, Janine di Giovanni has combined astonishing journalistic work to discover the last traces of small, hardy communities where ancient rituals are quietly preserved amid 360 degree threats. Full of faith and hope, di Giovanni's riveting personal stories make a unique act of pre-archeology: the last chance to visit the living religion before all that will be left are the stones of the past

In a voice both innocent and wise, reminiscent of Anne Frank, Zlata Filipovic's diary has awakened the world's conscience. At thirteen, Zlata began her diary just before her eleventh birthday, when Sarajevo was peaceful and her life was that of a carefree young girl. Her early entries reflect her friendships, hobbies, and school life, filled with excitement about joining the Madonna Fan Club. However, her perspective shifts dramatically when she sees bombs falling on Dubrovnik, unable to imagine such violence reaching her home. When it does, her diary's tone changes profoundly. She begins an entry to "Dear Mimmy" (named after her deceased goldfish) with words like "SLAUGHTERHOUSE! MASSACRE! HORROR!" As conflict escalates, Zlata's world shrinks; she becomes confined to her family's apartment, seeking refuge in a neighbor's cellar during shelling. The war disrupts her education, and basic necessities become scarce. The violence destroys her childhood, injures her friends, and ages her parents. In moments of despair, she declares, "War has nothing to do with humanity," and contemplates suicide. Yet, with remarkable courage and clarity, Zlata strives to preserve fragments of her former life, continuing to study piano, read, and celebrate special occasions, documenting it all in her extraordinary diary.

Janine und Bruno wollen sich ein gemeinsames Leben aufbauen - die beiden Kriegsreporter, die sich im belagerten Sarajevo ineinander verliebt haben. Jahrelang sind sie über den Globus geirrt, von einem Konflikt zum nächsten, von einer Trennung zur nächsten. Nur unterbrochen von kurzen, aber intensiven Momenten der Zweisamkeit. Aber der Plan, nach den zahlreichen Kriegen in Paris endlich Fuß zu fassen, will und will nicht aufgehen. Ihr Familienalltag wird immer wieder von den Erlebnissen der Vergangenheit eingeholt: So kämpft Bruno mit seinen traumatischen Erfahrungen und Janine damit, ihrer neuen Rolle als Mutter und Ehefrau gerecht zu werden. Der Krieg hat sie zusammengeführt. Nun stehen sie vor der Frage: Wie zusammenbleiben ohne ihn? Mitreißend und mit schonungsloser Offenheit erzählt die renommierte Kriegsberichterstatterin Janine di Giovanni davon, was es heißt, ankommen zu wollen, ohne ankommen zu können.