Sometimes they put innocent men in prison. Yassin Aref is one of those men. Originally published in 2008, but with renewed relevance for today’s international events, Son of Mountains is the story of a UN refugee who sought peace and freedom for himself and his family in America––and found just the opposite. It is the story of a Muslim imam entrapped in a phony “sting” concocted by the FBI, accused of aiding terrorism, and sentenced in 2007 to fifteen years in federal prison. And it is the...

Now available as an audiobook, listen to the story of a UN refugee who sought peace and freedom for himself and his family in America––and found just the opposite. It is the story of a Muslim Imam and an Iraqi Kurd - a son of mountains - who has struggled all his life just to survive.

It took a quarter-century of bad strategy, including more than a dozen years of Western air attacks and invasions in the Middle East, to bring the so-called "Islamic State" into existence. Can we somehow manage to avoid the well-trodden path of overreacting to the provocations of Islamist extremists?With the rise of ISIS, a new style of terrorism that publicly gloats over acts of extreme cruelty has reawakened the fears of the global audience. But in Don't Pani...

An impassioned, searing memoir of one man’s brutal imprisonment by the Iranian government that “turns a lens not only on Iran’s surreal justice system but on the history and culture that helped produce it” (The Washington Post), with a foreword by Jon Meacham“Clear and compelling . . . A gripping tribute to human dedication and a cogent indictment of a corrupt regime.”—Washington Independent Review of BooksThe basi...

A major New York Times bestseller by NBC’s Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel—this riveting story of the Middle East revolutions, the Arab Spring, war, and terrorism seen close up “should be required reading” (Booklist, starred review).In 1997, young Richard Engel, working freelance for Arab news sources, got a call that a busload of Italian tourists was massacred at a Cairo museum. This is his first view of the carnage these years would pi...

Winner of the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for NonfictionWinner of the Freedom to Read AwardWinner of the Hubert Evans PrizeIn the midst of an unfolding international crisis, renowned journalist Deborah Campbell finds herself swept up in the mysterious disappearance of Ahlam, her guide and friend. Campbell's frank, personal account of a journey through fear and the triumph of friendship and courage is as ...

Winner of the Nannen PrizeShort-listed for the Al-Rodhan PrizeNamed a Best Book of 2017 by The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Christian Science Monitor, and Publishers WeeklyLonglisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize"An enthralling and sometimes shocking blend of reportage and memoir from the centers of jihadi networks in the Middle East and North Africa. . . . Mekhe...

At the Arab Spring's hopeful start, Alia Malek returned to Damascus to reclaim her grandmother's apartment, which had been lost to her family since Hafez al-Assad came to power in 1970. Its loss was central to her parent's decision to make their lives in America. In chronicling the people who lived in the Tahaan building, past and present, Alia portrays the Syrians-the Muslims, Christians, Jews, Armenians, and Kurds-who worked, loved, and suffered in close quarters, mirroring the political...

**THE INSPIRATION FOR THE TNT SERIES *HIGH VALUE TARGETDebriefing the President* presents an astounding, candid portrait of one of our era’s most notorious strongmen. John Nixon, the first man to conduct a prolonged interrogation of Hussein after his capture, offers expert insight into the history and mind of America’s most enigmatic enemy.**In December 2003, after one of the largest, most aggressive manhunts in history, US military forces captured Iraqi president Saddam Hu...

Award-winning journalist Mohamed Fahmy's widely anticipated account of his wrongful incarceration in Cairo's maximum-security Scorpion Prison for terrorists and political leaders, and his subsequent battle for justice, opens a remarkable window onto the closed world of Islamic fundamentalism and the bloody geopolitical struggles that dominate our headlines. An important book that reads like a political thriller, it is also a testament to the critical importance of journalism today;...

PULITZER PRIZE FINALISTNATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALISTWINNER OF THE RIDENHOUR PRIZE"Essential reading for anyone concerned about how America got Afghanistan so wrong. A devastating, well-honed prosecution detailing how our government bungled the initial salvo in the so-called war on terror, ignored attempts by top Taliban leaders to surrender, trusted the wrong people, and backed a feckless and corrupt Afghan regime . . . It is u...

My Prison, My Home is the harrowing true story of Iranian-American scholar Haleh Esfandiari's arrest on false charges and subsequent incarceration in Evin Prison, the most notorious penitentiary in Ahmadinejad's Iran. Esfandiari's riveting, deeply personal, and illuminating first-person account of her ordeal is the inspiring tale of one woman's triumph over interrogation, intimidation, and fear. Offering a shocking, close-up view inside the paranoid mindset of the repressive Ahmad...