Sandstorm: Libya in the Time of Revolution

About this book

Over a quarter century the renowned British international correspondent Lindsey Hilsum has covered crisis and conflict around the world. In February 2011 at the first stirrings of revolt she went to Libya and began to chronicle the personal stories of people living through a time of unprecedented danger and opportunity. She reported the progress of the revolution on the ground from the conflict of the early months through the toppling of Gaddafis regime and his savage death in the desert. In Sandstorm she tells the full story of the events of the revolution within a rich context of Libyas history of colonialism monarchy and dictatorship and explores what the future of Libya holds. Sandstorm follows the stories of six individuals taking us inside Gaddafis Libya as events unfold change accelerates and those who had never before dared to speak tell their stories for the first time. We see the dynamics of the insurrection both from inside the regime and through the eyes of the men and women who found themselves starting a revolution. Woven into her account is a revelatory expos of the dysfunctional Gaddafi family the scale of whose excesses almost surpasses belief. She tells the stories of Libyans who lived in the United States or Europe but went home to risk everything to provide secret intelligence or commit daring acts of civil disobedience to bring the regime down knowing that the punishment if caught would be torture and death. The fall of Gaddafi who was for forty-two years the great autocrat-madman on the world stage is among the past decades most dramatic pivot points. In Lindsey Hilsum it has found its definitive chronicler.