The Battle for Home by Roger Scruton, Hardcover, 9780500343173 | Buy online at The Nile
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The Battle for Home

The Memoir of a Syrian Architect

Author: Roger Scruton and Marwa al-Sabouni  

A gripping account of living and working in a ravaged Syria, and the role architecture plays in whether a community crumbles or comes together

Drawing on the author's personal experience of living and working as an architect in Syria, this book offers an eyewitness perspective on the country's bitter conflict through the lens of architecture, showing how the built environment offers a mirror to the community that inhabits it.

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Summary

A gripping account of living and working in a ravaged Syria, and the role architecture plays in whether a community crumbles or comes together

Drawing on the author's personal experience of living and working as an architect in Syria, this book offers an eyewitness perspective on the country's bitter conflict through the lens of architecture, showing how the built environment offers a mirror to the community that inhabits it.

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Description

Drawing on the author's personal experience of living and working as an architect in Syria, this book offers an eyewitness perspective on the country's bitter conflict through the lens of architecture, showing how the built environment offers a mirror to the community that inhabits it. From Syria's tolerant past, with churches and mosques built alongside one another in Old Homs and members of different religions living harmoniously together, the book chronicles the recent breakdown of social cohesion in Syria's cities, with the lack of shared public spaces intensifying divisions within the community and corrupt officials interfering in town planning for their own gain, actions symptomatic of wider abuses of power. With first-hand accounts of mortar attacks and stories of refugees struggling to find a home, this compelling and original book explores the personal impact of the conflict and offers hope for how architecture can play a role in rebuilding a sense of identity within a damaged society.

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Critic Reviews

“"The Battle for Home is Sabouni's elegy to her devastated town, a memoir about survival, and a kind of manifesto, stressing the importance of architecture and urbanism for our understanding of the deeper roots of Syria's conflict and the seeds of civil war. Sabouni contends that Syria's built environment helped create the conditions for a popular uprising-turned-civil war. Her hope is that better, fairer urban development, policy, and architecture can aid eventual reconciliation."”

'The moving record of one person's effort to stay loyal to her homeland, at a time of great suffering and personal distress. It tells a painful and tragic story. But it is also the expression of a beautiful soul, who comes to us out of a confused and dreadful battle with a message of hope' - Roger Scruton 'Marwa al-Sabouni writes with clarity and conviction' - The Times 'An understated gem of a book ... gripping' - The Spectator 'An angry and personal memoir' - Daily Telegraph

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About the Author

Marwa al-Sabouni has a PhD in Islamic Architecture and runs a private architectural studio in Homs, Syria. She is co-owner of the first and only online media site dedicated to architectural news in Arabic: www.arch-news.net.

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Product Details

Publisher
Thames & Hudson Ltd
Published
18th April 2016
Pages
184
ISBN
9780500343173

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