Elliot Ackerman, author of the critically acclaimed novel Green on Blue, is based out of Istanbul, where he has covered the Syrian Civil War since 2013. His writings have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New Republic, and The New York Times Magazine, among other publications, and his stories have been included in The Best American Short Stories. He is both a former White House Fellow and Marine, and served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan where he received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart.

A Vintage Shorts Original Selection

"Why do some forms of violence-the beheading of journalists by the Islamic State, a bombing in Ankara, or the attacks in San Bernardino and Orlando-make us feel so threatened, while other forms-the 372 separate mass shootings in America in 2015 or the 4,219 Syrians killed that same September-do little to challenge our sense of safety?"

From his base in Istanbul, Elliot Ackerman has written letters and essays that explore how global and seemingly remote issues like terrorism, US foreign policy, and other geopolitical forces play out and wreak distress upon the quotidian lives of civilians. Here assembled into a haunting piece, the fragments of a year's notes open a window into life under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's oppressive and nationalistic right-wing regime, the civil war in Syria, and the disintegration of the old order in the Middle-East.

Exposing how a pervasive rhetoric of fear can shape a society and written with intimacy and a tremendous amount of compassion, this is an astute political commentary and first-person travel narrative par excellence.

An ebook short.