The Home I Worked to Make: Voices from the New Syrian Diaspora

Please join us for a timely discussion of Syria, its people, and its future with Northwestern University professor Wendy Pearlman, author of (2017) and (2024).

In The Home I Worked to Make, Pearlman explores how war not only forced millions of Syrians from their homes but also compelled them to rethink the meaning of home itself. A follow-up to We Crossed A Bridge and It Trembled, this new collection is based on more than 500 interviews with displaced Syrians now on five continents. It is a tapestry of gripping testimonials that begins with stories of leaving Syria and follows refugees’ journeys around the world as they reflect on losing home, searching for home, and finding or not finding home. Their voices provide a window into one of the most inspiring liberation struggles of our times, putting the recent collapse of the Assad regime in a broader context and reminding us what is at stake, in human terms. They also challenge readers to grapple with the hard-won wisdom of those who survive war and to see, with fresh eyes, what home means in their own lives.

Wendy Pearlman is the Jane Long Professor of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University. She is the author of forty academic articles or book chapters, and six books: Occupied Voices: Stories of Everyday Life from the Second Intifada (Nation Books, 2003); Violence, Nonviolence, and the Palestinian National Movement (Cambridge, 2011); We Crossed A Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria (HarperCollins, 2017, longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence); Triadic Coercion: Israel’s Targeting of States that Host Nonstate Actors (with Boaz Atzili, Columbia, 2018); Muzoon: A Syrian Refugee Speaks Out (with Muzoon Almellehan, Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2023); and The Home I Worked To Make: Voices from the New Syrian Diaspora (Liveright, 2024).

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Shepard Hall SH-550, 160 Convent Avenue, New York, United States