Lebanon Is Burning and Other Dispatches

Voices from the Middle East on the fight for self-determination.

Much of the present discourse about the pro-democracy Arab uprisings of 2011 paints a bleak picture of their defeat. But the truth is more complicated, and moments of struggle and inspiration still recur despite the overwhelming odds against the movements’ success.

This collection of short comics documents the political and social unrest in the Middle East during the 2010s, in such places as Lebanon, Egypt, Yemen, Palestine, Sudan, and Bahrain. A collaboration between writer and journalist Yazan Al-Saadi and a lineup of stellar cartoonists from the region—Tracy Chahwan, Ganzeer, Ghadi Ghosn, Omar Khouri, Sirène Moukheiber, Hicham Rahma, and Enas Satir—this graphic reportage serves as a witness to an era of counterrevolutionary resurgence in which entrenched powers clashed with the people’s struggle for self-determination.

“An exciting, informative collection of graphic journalism.”—Peter Dabbene, Foreword Reviews

“This book is brave. . . . The reader will feel compelled to learn more.”—Jane Burns, Graphic Medicine

“It’s vital, cutting journalism exploring and explaining so many topics we’ve been told are out of intellectual reach. Purely on the level of comics experiment, it’s invigorating to find such a well assembled anthology of differing art styles, all glued together by Al-Saadi’s narration and the purpose of the work.”—Comic Book Herald

“Visceral, humorous, and ultimately triumphant, each ‘dispatch’ (comic) delivers something unique and memorable.”—Daniel Bokemper, World Literature Today

“A chronicle for the ages.”—Frank Plowright, The Slings & Arrows

“It’s vital, cutting journalism exploring and explaining so many topics we’ve been told are out of intellectual reach.”—Comic Book Herald

“To read Lebanon is Burning and Other Dispatches is to be unsettled. It is to be implicated. It is, in Yazan's own words, to be "transparent about our positions" in a world that prefers we remain silent.”—Sarah Khalil, The New Arab

“As an anthology, the comics paint a comprehensive picture; the continuity of Al-Saadi’s voice contrasts with the stark differences in art style to underscore the ubiquitousness of the call for self-determination throughout the region despite differing material circumstances. Throughout the compilation, Al-Saadi, and the artists he collaborated with, take part in a long tradition of journalism and dissent through comics that seems especially rich in the Middle East.”—Aiya Bettinger, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs

“Al-Saadi’s stories of human struggle and unfinished uprisings are masterfully drawn by the best comic artists from Lebanon, Sudan, and Egypt. This is comics journalism you cannot turn away from—visually stunning, urgent, and devastating.”—Andy Warner, author of Brief Histories of Everyday Objects and Spring Rain

“A searing and insightful look into political life in the Middle East told through uniquely moving comics. This is an essential book for anyone who wants to learn about the world.”—Sarah Shay Mirk, author of Guantanamo Voices

Yazan Al-Saadi is a Kuwait-born Syrian who holds a Canadian passport. He has lived in seven countries across three continents over the course of his life, and since 2012 he has lived and written in Beirut, Lebanon. He has worked as a researcher, a newspaper and online journalist and editor, a creative content and communications officer for a medical international humanitarian organization, and a political analyst and commentator.