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Come From The Shadows [Hardcover]

Terry Glavin
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Book Description

Sep 16 2011

An award-winning journalist overturns western stereotypes as he takes readers as he takes readers "outside the wire" of the war in Afghanistan and introduces the people whose defiant courage offers hope for the future.

Far from the Taliban's grim desert strongholds, the country we visit with Terry Glavin is a surprisingly welcoming place, hidden away in alleys and narrow streets that bustle with blacksmiths, gem hawkers and spice merchants. This is the unseen Afghanistan, reawakening from decades of savagery and bloodletting.

Glavin shows us how events have unfolded in Afghanistan since September 11, 2001. Travelling with fluent interpreters and Afghan human rights activists, Glavin meets people from many walks of life -- key political figures, teachers, journalists, farmers, students, burqa-shrouded women and soccer players -- and in these pages they speak for themselves. And in the life story of Afghan-Canadian writer, translator and activist Abdulrahim Parwani, he finds the story of Afghanistan's agonies over the past 30 years.

Celebrated as "a critical voice in the dialogue that sustains a civil society," Glavin is a co-founder of the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee and is increasingly seen as an expert on Canada's role in Afghanistan. He is also one of the best writers we have. Come from the Shadows mounts a passionately, marvellously readable challenge to the usual depiction of the war in Afghanistan. What, Glavin asks, has made the West incapable of hearing the voices of Afghans at the forefront of the global struggle against slavery, misogyny and tyranny? His answers are often unexpected and always illuminating.


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Review

"...a strongly recommended study of the Afghani people and their attempts to determine their lot in life." (Library Bookwatch 20120129)

"Journalist Terry Glavin's book Come from the Shadows is an impassioned account of what we should know but don't about Afghanistan." (Vancouver Sun 20111021)

"For Glavin, it is precisely the spirit of brotherhood and solidarity that should animate the West's engagement with Afghanistan." (World Affairs Journal 20120109)

"...a thought-provoking overview of the Afghanistan that Glavin discovered during several visits there, travelling "outside the wire" and talking to ordinary Afghans. It will change the way you have ever thought about Afghanistan." (John Boileau Chronicle Herald 20120129)

"Come From the Shadows is an ambitious book...[it] presents an authentic challenge to those who think Canada should cut and run." (Charlie Smith Georgia Straight 20111010)

"[Glavin] provides an alternative to the usual Western media portrait, particularly of Afghan women, who rely on foreigners for security while boldly rebuilding their society."

(Ms. Mag 20111125)

"Glavin does his job well. The best parts of Come from the Shadows involve his travels in the country, often in the company the Abdulrahim Parwani, a remarkable Afghan-Canadian man, well drawn in Glavin's text. We meet democrats, partisans, activists and scholars. Some are powerful, some simply brave." (Michael Petrou Maclean's 20111006)

"Glavin's demolition of the prevailing wisdom and mythology that surround Afghanistan and Afghans makes Come from the Shadows worth reading. It is well written and his language is clear, simple and blunt throughout the book. He wears his heart on his sleeve and he pulls no punches in assigning the blame for a decade's worth of incoherent and ineffective effort at the door of western politicians, their lack of strong leadership and the absence of the political will and courage to do what is really necessary." (Literary Review of Canada 20120104)

"What [Glavin] reports is not hateful, anti-Western spite perpetuated by 10 years of war and civilian casualties, but a sense of tentative optimism -- a better-than-before place where the people arebeginning to find solace in an environment of peace brought by foreign soldiers."

(The Martlet 20111103)

"The Afghan people have friends around the world who have courageously joined us in our fight for our freedom and civil liberties, but few have been as devoted to our cause as Terry Glavin. His journalism gives our silenced voices the power to be heard in the West." (Fawzia Koofi, Afghan MP and author of "Letters to My Daughters" 20110627)

"Terry Glavin is the West's most eloquent advocate of the cause of Afghan liberty. His voice is a powerful counterweight to the many others who relentlessly counsel abdication of that cause." (Sohrab Ahmari, co-editor, "Re-Orient" 20110622)

"The best journalism exists to refute self-serving and self-satisfied prejudices. With reporting from the ground and historical scholarship, Terry Glavin demolishes our illusions about Afghanistan, and produces a book that is at once an assault on received wisdom and a humane defence of the rights of subjugated peoples." (Nick Cohen, author of "What's Left?" 20110622)

"Glavin embraces the whole country with kindness, somewhat in awe of the courage and convictions of individuals who simply will not accept the negative assumptions that outsiders can bring to them and their country." (Globe & Mail 20120128)

About the Author

Terry Glavin is the author of six books and the co-author of four, traversing a variety of subjects from anthropology to natural history. He has won more than a dozen literary and journalism awards, including the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize, and in 2009 was the recipient of the British Columbia Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence. His writing appears regularly in newspapers, magazines and online publications as diverse as Democratiya (New York), Lettre Internationale (Berlin), the National Post, Canadian Geographic and The Tyee. He is a founding member of the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee. He lives in Victoria, British Columbia.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A revelation of Western ignorance Nov 22 2011
Format:Hardcover
Great book! If you read only one book about the conflict in Afghanistan, this should be it. It takes the reader well beyond the headlines and the superficial assessment by Western mainstream media.
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Amazon.com: 5.0 out of 5 stars  2 reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars CONFUSED, CURIOUS, OR FED UP ABOUT AFGHANISTAN? READ THIS! April 1 2013
By Farzana Marie - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
"Come from the Shadows" is an important and accessible read which exposes the mythology about Afghanistan, or as Terry Glavin calls the place created in popular imagination, "Absurdistan." In its place, Glavin brings to light key aspects of the "real" Afghanistan that rarely get any stage time. He gives faces and names to a few of the countless every-day heroes of Afghanistan, such as Afghan activists for democracy, women's rights, and education. He listens to the voices of the huge number of Afghan civilians who desperately appreciate the international presence and want the troops to stay, in some capacity, to keep some measure of protection against a return to fascism and a re-invasion by Pakistan and the Taliban. Mr. Glavin gives a glimpse of the tremendous potential of the new generation to begin to lead the way to a transformed Afghanistan, how they are doing just that NOW, and will continue if enough space can be maintained for them to do so.

Glavin also exposes surprising elements of the conflict that are important for Western readers and thinkers to recognize, such as the Taliban's and Pashtun nationalist (chauvinist) movement's direct historical connections to Nazi Aryanism, efforts to re-write or erase parts of Afghan history, and even cruelly executed policies designed to create a Pashtun "lebensraum." Importantly, he explains the reasons that negotiating with the Taliban is a contradiction in terms. Talibanism, much like Nazism and other extreme fascist ideologies, does not want to be negotiated with, reasoned with, or appeased. Talibanism is "a revolt against reason itself."

This book achieves a highly personal narrative with an objective, scholarly effect and a robust degree of intellectual honesty. For anyone who wishes to understand Afghanistan and its continuing relevance, examine the many deceptions and misperceptions well-meaning people can easily fall prey to, and gain a fresh perspective on why engagement is worth it, this is a must-read!!

A few memorable quotes:

"Absurdistan is a world that replaces Afghanistan with an apparatus sustained only by suspension of disbelief, a contrivance wholly impervious to the objective realities of the world in which Afghanistan actually exists."

"Evidence should matter to what we accept as the truth, and the truth should actually matter to what we believe."

"Another thing... is that the way we in the West talk about Afghanistan has meant more to the course of events in that country than all the soldiers and guns and money we've sent there since September 11. What we say matters. It will continue to matter for some long while."

"The Kabul that trundled along before my eyes was a thriving, heartbreakingly poor but hopeful and splendid place... It was a city that got knocked around, picked itself up, dusted itself off and carried on with its business."

"Everywhere is dangerous. Everywhere is safe. This is Afghanistan."
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Buy 2 copies of thsi book immediately! Nov 20 2011
By Frederick Litwin - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Don't think another minute. Buy two copies of this book and give one to a friend. They will thank you profusely for your thoughtful gift. Terry Glavin is one of Canada's most important writers. Given that most journalists today actually practice stenography, Terry is a throwback to something real - a journalist who actually asks the hard questions and actually goes where he needs to be. I should say up front that I am a friend of Terry's, so I am biased - but that doesn't make me wrong. "Come From The Shadows" not only gives you an accurate history of Afghanistan, but Terry takes you on a tour of the country through the eyes of Afghans. And, you'll discover a people yearning for peace and security - and people who appreciate the sacrifices that many countries have endured in the fight against savage Talibanism. Glavin also analyzes the anti-war left and this part of the book should be required reading in every school and University. Needless to say, he is disgusted that many on the left seen anxious to abandon the Afghan people - and, for some reason, resigned to the Taliban taking over again. And, as Glavin says over and over again, who can blame the Afghans for putting their bets on the Taliban when they see the West wavering and unsure in our commitment to democracy. Essential reading and once you discover Terry Glavin, you'll want to read his other books and his blog.
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