Days of Love and Rage

*** Longlisted for The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2026 ***

'A sweeping tour-de-force of investigative journalism' – Time magazine

'Epic … the definitive text of the war… This story of ordinary Syrians who fought tyranny is a masterpiece' - New York Times

'As a many-layered portrait of revolution it is a triumph… never less than compelling' - The Spectator

In 2011, in a city in northern Syria, a small group of men and women began a movement that overthrew a brutal dictatorship. For the next eighteen months, many of the citizens of Manbij carried out one of the most remarkable experiments in democracy in modern times.

Days of Love and Rage details the powerfully intimate narratives of the men and women who led this struggle, and who experienced the highs of camaraderie and the lows of betrayal. Among them: a pair of best friends torn apart by political polarization, a mother who stands up to male dominance, and a worker who risks everything for the dream of equality.

Anand Gopal immerses you in the world of a single city in the throes of revolution, and lays bare the danger that inequality poses to democracy. But this book transcends the particulars of one terrible conflict to tell the broader story of rising authoritarianism in our times. Days of Love and Rage has the force, sweep and artistry of a great novel, and is ultimately a story of our enduring human need for dignity and hope.

Read a sample here