Embedding with the Taliban

In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks to journalist and author Anand Gopal about his wonderful new book Days of Love and Rage, a profoundly moving and intellectually stimulating history of the Syrian revolution told from the perspective of the northern town of Manbij.

Anand and Thomas discuss:

• Anand's first-hand witnessing of 9/11
• How Anand embedded with the Taliban
• Revolution as a crisis of faith and collapse of social reality
• Manbij as a microcosm of the tensions of Syrian modernity
• The failure of Manbij's democratic experiment and the limits of liberalism
• How ISIS exploited both material grievances and liberal norms
• Baathism: egalitarian ethos vs authoritarian reality

Find Gopal on X: https://x.com/Anand_Gopal

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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

This episode was produced by Thomas Small and edited by Lizzy Andrews.

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