Description

*** Longlisted for The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2026 ***

‘A sweeping tour-de-force of investigative journalism’ – Time magazine

‘Epic … the definitive text of the war’ – New York Times

‘As a many-layered portrait of revolution it is a triumph… never less than compelling’ – The Spectator

In 2011, in a city in northern Syria, a small group of men and women began a movement that overthrew a brutal dictatorship. For the next eighteen months, many of the citizens of Manbij carried out one of the most remarkable experiments in democracy in modern times.

Days of Love and Rage details the powerfully intimate narratives of the men and women who led this struggle, and who experienced the highs of camaraderie and the lows of betrayal. Among them: a pair of best friends torn apart by political polarization, a mother who stands up to male dominance, and a worker who risks everything for the dream of equality.

Anand Gopal immerses you in the world of a single city in the throes of revolution, and lays bare the danger that inequality poses to democracy. But this book transcends the particulars of one terrible conflict to tell the broader story of rising authoritarianism in our times. Days of Love and Rage has the force, sweep and artistry of a great novel, and is ultimately a story of our enduring human need for dignity and hope.

Publisher Review

'A sweeping tour de force of investigative journalism' -- Time magazine 'Epic .. the definitive text of the war. There have been many books about Syria since the earliest days of unrest in 2011, but the closest kin to Days of Love and Rage is Homage to Catalonia' -- New York Times 'As a many-layered portrait of revolution it is a triumph... never less than compelling' -- The Spectator 'An astonishing book about the limits of fear, the way obsession with one value can mutate into a kind of tyranny, and the struggle to find logic and meaning in history and in personal sacrifice. It is also a riveting portrait of a community of remarkable people who managed to remain open to the world, even as it closed in on them. It's hard for me to imagine a better work of nonfiction than this' -- Rachel Aviv, New York Times bestselling author of Strangers to Ourselves 'Remarkable. This book is not only about the Syrian revolution, it is a profound meditation on human nature, resilience, and faith. Gopal brings to life the stories of Syrians whose political imagination, fearless actions, and astonishing courage, reveal the depths of human solidarity and sacrifice in pursuit of a better world' -- Emma Sky OBE, author of The Unravelling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq 'Brilliant' -- Literary Hub 'An awesome feat of reporting and storytelling. By focusing on the dramatic lives of a handful of indelible characters, Gopal has managed to distill a sweeping history of the Syrian revolution into a tale that is rousing, vivid, heartbreaking, and unforgettable' -- Patrick Radden Keefe, award-winning staff writer at The New Yorker and author of the New York Times bestseller Empire of Pain 'Powerful' -- Outlook '...perhaps the most remarkable nonfiction book I've ever come across..."Days of Love and Rage" is intense, comprehensive and epic in scale...relevant to societies everywhere, to declining democracies as well as to those newly born' -- Robin Yassin-Kassab, author of Burning Country * New Lines Magazine * 'Anand Gopal is one of the great war reporters of our age. Rather than writing about the politicians and generals driving the wars, Gopal writes with great knowledge and empathy about the lives of ordinary people who were thrust into extraordinary circumstances'