{"product_id":"blindfold-a-memoir-of-capture-torture-and-enlightenment-9781982120825","title":"Blindfold: A Memoir of Capture  Torture  and Enlightenment","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn award-winning journalists extraordinary account of being kidnapped and tortured in Syria by al Qaeda for two yearsa revelatory memoir about war  human nature  and endurance thats the best of the genre  profound  poetic  and sorrowful (The Atlantic).  In 2012  American journalist Theo Padnos  fluent in Arabic  Russian  German  and French  traveled to a Turkish border town to write and report on the Syrian civil war. One afternoon in October  while walking through an olive grove  he met three young Syrianswho turned out to be al Qaeda operativesand they captured him and kept him prisoner for nearly two years. On his first day  in the first of many prisons  Padnos was given a blindfolda grime-stained scrap of fabricthat was his only possession throughout his horrific ordeal.  Now  Padnos recounts his time in captivity in Syria  where he was frequently tortured at the hands of the al Qaeda affiliate  Jebhat al Nusra. We learn not only about Padnoss harrowing experience  but we also get a firsthand account of life in a Syrian village  the nature of Islamic prisons  how captors interrogate someone suspected of being CIA  the ways that Islamic fighters shift identities and drift back and forth through the veil of Western civilization  and much more.  No other journalist has lived among terrorists for as long as Theo hasand survived. As a resident of thirteen separate prisons in every part of rebel-occupied Syria  Theo witnessed a society adrift amid a steady stream of bombings  executions  torture  prayer  fasting  and exhibitions  all staged by the terrorists. Living within this tide of violence changed not only his personal identity but also profoundly altered his understanding of how to live.  Offering fascinating  unprecedented insight into the state of Syria today  Blindfold is a triumph of the human spirit (The New York Times Book Review)combining the emotional power of a captives memoir with a journalists account of a culture and a nation in conflict that is as urgent and important as ever.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45647228174389,"sku":"ByrdShop_1982120827","price":33.81,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781982120825.jpg?v=1781690167","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/blindfold-a-memoir-of-capture-torture-and-enlightenment-9781982120825","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}