The Palestinian/Israeli conflict is long and complicated.  Two new books bring new insights to this difficult reality.

Kingdom of Olives and Ash: Writers Confront the Occupation 

-edited by Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman

A groundbreaking collection of essays by celebrated international writers bears witness to the human cost of fifty years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

In Kingdom of Olives and Ash, Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman, two of today’s most renowned novelists and essayists, have teamed up with the Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence—an organization comprised of former Israeli soldiers who served in the occupied territories and saw firsthand the injustice there, to bring us these stories.  The stories stand witness to the human cost of the occupation.

“The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine”

-by Ben Ehrenreich

From an award-winning journalist, a brave and necessary immersion into the everyday struggles of Palestinian life.
Over the past three years, American writer Ben Ehrenreich has been traveling to and living in the West Bank, staying with Palestinian families in its largest cities and its smallest villages.  In a great act of bravery, empathy and understanding, Ben Ehrenreich, by placing us in the footsteps of ordinary Palestinians and telling their story with surpassing literary power and grace, makes it impossible for us to turn away.

These books are available in your Beacon Bookstore.