Letters to Palestine: Writers Respond to War and Occupation
Edited by Vijay Prashad
American writers respond to the 2014 Gaza war with essays, poems, and open letters — a document of conscience edited by Vijay Prashad.
In the summer of 2014, during Israel’s seven-week assault on Gaza, something shifted in American public opinion: for the first time, polls showed a majority of young Americans judging Israel’s actions unjustified. Letters to Palestine, assembled by Vijay Prashad in the assault’s aftermath, gathers that moment — essays, poems, and open letters by American writers, most of them not specialists, addressed to and written for Palestinians. Junot Díaz contributes a foreword; other contributors include Teju Cole, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and Robin D.G. Kelley, alongside Palestinian American writers and activists such as Huwaida Arraf, Noura Erakat, Remi Kanazi, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Randa Jarrar. The pieces move between grief, solidarity, and anger — at the bombardment, and at the United States’ role in enabling it — and several draw lines between Palestinian and Black American struggles. The result is less an analysis than a document of conscience: a record of American letters turning toward Palestine.
About the editor
Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian and journalist. He is the executive director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, chief editor of LeftWord Books, and the author of many books, including The Darker Nations and The Poorer Nations.
Details
- Published by Verso Books, London, 2015
- Foreword by Junot Díaz
- ISBN 9781784780678
The edition
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