The Road from Raqqa
A Story of Brotherhood, Borders, and Belonging
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Narrated by:
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Graham Halstead
About this listen
Crossing years and continents, the harrowing story of the road to reunion for two Syrian brothers who—despite a homeland at war and an ocean between them—hold fast to the bonds of family.
Finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize
"Riveting...a resplendent love letter to an obliterated city.” (The New York Times)
"The Road from Raqqa had me gripped from the first page. I couldn't put it down." (Christy Lefteri, author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo)
The Alkasem brothers, Riyad and Bashar, spend their childhood in Raqqa, the Syrian city that would later become the capital of ISIS. As a teenager in the 1980s, Riyad witnesses the devastating aftermath of the Hama massacre—an atrocity that the Hafez al-Assad regime commits upon its people. Wanting to expand his notion of government and justice, Riyad moves to the United States to study the law, but his plans are derailed and he eventually falls in love with a Southern belle.
They move to a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee, where they raise two sons and where Riyad opens a restaurant—Café Rakka—cooking the food his grandmother used to make. But he finds himself confronted with the darker side of American freedoms: the hardscrabble life of a newly arrived immigrant, enduring bigotry, poverty, and loneliness. Years pass, and at the height of Syria’s civil war, fearing for his family’s safety halfway across the world, he risks his own life by making a dangerous trip back to Raqqa.
Bashar, meanwhile, in Syria. After his older brother moves to America, Bashar embarks on a brilliant legal career under the same corrupt Assad government that Riyad despises. Reluctant to abandon his comfortable (albeit conflicted) life, he fails to perceive the threat of ISIS until it’s nearly too late.
The Road from Raqqa brings us into the lives of two brothers bound by their love for each other and for the war-ravaged city they call home. It’s about a family caught in the middle of the most significant global events of the new millennium, America’s fraught but hopeful relationship to its own immigrants, and the toll of dictatorship and war on everyday families. It’s a book that captures all the desperation, tenacity, and hope that come with the revelation that we can find home in one another when the lands of our forefathers fail us.
©2020 Jordan Ritter Conn (P)2020 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“Jordan Ritter Conn’s riveting debut book, The Road from Raqqa, is a well-wrought portrait of two brothers, Riyad and Bashar Alkasem, and their journeys out of Syria. . . . The book portrays Syria and the United States as multifaceted and complex, both capable of generosity and oppression, with histories as interconnected as the brothers’ own. . . . As complicated and ever-shifting as their views of Syria and the United States are, the brothers’ affection for Raqqa is unwavering. Conn translates their memories into a resplendent love letter to an obliterated city.”—The New York Times
“A work of dazzling emotional power—a gorgeously written exploration of how we cope with seismic loss and how we muster the strength to build again . . . You will come away from this book in awe of its characters’ resilience, as well as grateful for Jordan Ritter Conn’s loving devotion to the art of journalism.”—Brendan I. Koerner, author of The Skies Belong to Us
“Jordan Ritter Conn has constructed an achingly beautiful story that, by some miracle, takes in the epic sweep of the modern Middle East, the continuous whiplash of immigrant life in America, and the depths of brotherly love.”—Steve Fainaru, author of League of Denial
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By: Melissa Fleming
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My Father's Paradise
- A Son's Search For His Family's Past
- By: Ariel Sabar
- Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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In a remote corner of the world, forgotten for nearly 3,000 years, lived an enclave of Kurdish Jews so isolated that they still spoke Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Mostly illiterate, they were self-made mystics and gifted storytellers and humble peddlers who dwelt in harmony with their Muslim and Christian neighbors in the mountains of northern Iraq. To these descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Yona Sabar was born.
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Great story, poorly narrated
- By Oren Kessler on 09-10-24
By: Ariel Sabar
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On All Fronts
- The Education of a Journalist
- By: Clarissa Ward
- Narrated by: Clarissa Ward
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Clarissa Ward is a world-renowned conflict reporter. In this strange age of crisis where there really is no front line, she has moved from one hot zone to the next. With multiple assignments in Syria, Egypt, and Afghanistan, Ward, who speaks seven languages, has been based in Baghdad, Beirut, Beijing, and Moscow. She has seen and documented the violent remaking of the world at close range. With her deep empathy, Ward finds a way to tell the hardest stories. On All Fronts is the riveting account of Ward’s singular career and of journalism in this age of extremism.
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Insights gained!
- By J. Harry on 11-10-20
By: Clarissa Ward
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Homes
- A Refugee Story
- By: Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Winnie Yeung
- Narrated by: Ali Momen
- Length: 3 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2010, the al Rabeeah family left their home in Iraq in hope of a safer life. They moved to Homs, in Syria - just before the Syrian civil war broke out. Abu Bakr, one of eight children, was 10 years old when the violence began on the streets around him: car bombings, attacks on his mosque and school, firebombs late at night. Homes tells of the strange juxtapositions of growing up in a war zone: horrific, unimaginable events punctuated by normalcy - soccer, cousins, video games, friends.
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Understanding the Why for Immigration
- By MaggieP1980 on 06-28-19
By: Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, and others
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What Storm, What Thunder
- By: Myriam J.A. Chancy
- Narrated by: Ella Turenne
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
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The Earth had buckled, and, in that movement, all that was not in its place fell upon the Earth’s children, upon the blameless as well as the guilty, without discrimination. At the end of a long sweltering day, as markets and businesses begin to close for the evening, an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude shakes the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. Award-winning author Myriam J. A. Chancy masterfully charts the inner lives of the characters affected by the disaster
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We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.
- By AuthorAnnaBella on 03-15-22
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The Chief Witness
- Escape from China's Modern-Day Concentration Camps
- By: Sayragul Sauytbay, Alexandra Cavelius
- Narrated by: Xifeng Brooks
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Born in China’s northwestern province, Sayragul Sauytbay trained as a doctor before being appointed a senior civil servant. But her life was upended when the Chinese authorities incarcerated her. Her crime? Being Kazakh, one of China’s ethnic minorities. The northwestern province borders the largest number of foreign nations and is the point in China that is the closest to Europe. In recent years, it has become home to more than 1,200 penal camps - modern-day gulags that are estimated to house three million members of the Kazakh and Uyghur minorities.
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A Must Read!
- By Stephanie on 12-22-21
By: Sayragul Sauytbay, and others
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The Last Jews in Berlin
- By: Leonard Gross
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, approximately 160,000 Jews called Berlin home. By 1943 less than 5,000 remained in the nation's capital, the epicenter of Nazism, and by the end of the war, that number had dwindled to 1,000. All the others had died in air raids, starved to death, committed suicide, or been shipped off to the death camps. In this captivating and harrowing book, Leonard Gross details the real-life stories of a dozen Jewish men and women who spent the final 27 months of World War II underground, hiding in plain sight.
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Very good WWll Jewish lives in Berlin
- By it.is grat!' on 10-30-24
By: Leonard Gross
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The Spymaster of Baghdad
- A True Story of Bravery, Family, and Patriotism in the Battle Against ISIS
- By: Margaret Coker
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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The Spymaster of Baghdad tells the dramatic yet intimate account of how a covert Iraqi intelligence unit called “the Falcons” came together against all odds to defeat ISIS. The Falcons, comprised of ordinary men with little conventional espionage background, infiltrated the world’s most powerful terrorist organization, ultimately turning the tide of war against the terrorist group and bringing safety to millions of Iraqis and the broader world.
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Worth every penny
- By Michelle on 04-20-21
By: Margaret Coker
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Last Boat Out of Shanghai
- The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution
- By: Helen Zia
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 17 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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The dramatic real-life stories of four young people caught up in the mass exodus of Shanghai in the wake of China's 1949 Communist revolution. Benny must decide either to escape to Hong Kong or navigate the intricacies of a newly Communist China. Annuo, forced to flee with her father, a defeated Nationalist official, becomes an unwelcome exile in Taiwan. The financially strapped Ho fights deportation from the US in order to continue his studies while his family struggles at home. Bing, given away by her poor parents, faces the prospect of a new life among strangers in America.
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Great book, poor performance
- By Helpful Buyer on 07-02-19
By: Helen Zia
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On the Run in Nazi Berlin
- A Memoir
- By: Bert Lewyn, Bev Saltzman Lewyn - contributor
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Suzanne Toren
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Berlin, 1942. The Gestapo arrest 18-year-old Bert Lewyn and his parents, sending the latter to their deaths and Bert to work in a factory making guns for the Nazi war effort. Miraculously tipped off the morning the Gestapo round up all the Jews who work in the factories, Bert goes underground. He finds shelter sometimes with compassionate civilians, sometimes with people who find his skills useful and sometimes in the cellars of bombed-out buildings.
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NOT YOUR USUAL STORY ABOUT THE NAZIS...FANTASTIC!
- By Steve on 03-21-19
By: Bert Lewyn, and others
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Harry Haft: Survivor of Auschwitz, Challenger of Rocky Marciano
- Religion, Theology and the Holocaust
- By: Alan Scott Haft
- Narrated by: Price Waldman
- Length: 5 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Alan Scott Haft provides the first-hand testimony of his father, Harry Haft, a holocaust victim with a singular story of endurance, desperation, and unrequited love. Harry Haft was a 16-year-old Polish Jew when he entered a concentration camp in 1944. Forced to fight other Jews in bare-knuckle bouts for the perverse entertainment of SS officers, Harry quickly learned that his own survival depended on his ability to fight and win. Haft details the inhumanity of the "sport" in which he must perform in brutal contests for the officers.
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Human Cruelty and Love
- By Charles N. Erickson on 05-27-22
By: Alan Scott Haft
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America Is in the Heart
- By: Carlos Bulosan, Elaine Castillo - foreword, E. San Juan Jr. - introduction, and others
- Narrated by: Ramon de Ocampo
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Poet, essayist, novelist, fiction writer, and labor organizer, Carlos Bulosan (1911-1956) wrote one of the most influential working class literary classics about the US pre-World War II, a period and setting similar to that of Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and Cannery Row. Bulosan's semi-autobiographical novel America Is in the Heart begins with the narrator's rural childhood in the Philippines and the struggles of land-poor peasant families affected by US imperialism after the Spanish-American War of the late 1890s.
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Pointless, wandering narrative poorly performed
- By B. Bartok on 08-15-20
By: Carlos Bulosan, and others
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Fast Times in Palestine
- A Love Affair with a Homeless Homeland
- By: Pamela J. Olson
- Narrated by: Julia Farhat
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Pamela Olson, a small town girl from eastern Oklahoma, had what she always wanted: a physics degree from Stanford University. But instead of feeling excited for what came next, she felt consumed by dread and confusion. This irresistible memoir chronicles her journey from aimless ex-bartender to Ramallah-based journalist and foreign press coordinator for a Palestinian presidential candidate.
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Palestine from the Inside—and Out
- By Susie on 11-04-13
By: Pamela J. Olson
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The Cubans
- Ordinary Lives in Extraordinary Times
- By: Anthony DePalma
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean, Anthony DePalma
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Cubans today, most of whom have lived their entire lives under the Castro regime, are hesitantly embracing the future. In his new book, Anthony DePalma, a veteran reporter with years of experience in Cuba, focuses on a neighborhood across the harbor from Old Havana to dramatize the optimism as well as the enormous challenges that Cubans face: a moving snapshot of Cuba with all its contradictions as the new regime opens the gate to the capitalism that Fidel railed against for so long.
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Enlightening and eye-opening
- By Amee Arledge on 07-21-22
By: Anthony DePalma
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They Said They Wanted Revolution
- A Memoir of My Parents
- By: Neda Toloui-Semnani
- Narrated by: Neda Toloui-Semnani
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1979, Neda Toloui-Semnani’s parents left the United States for Iran to join the revolution. But the promise of those early heady days in Tehran was warped by the rise of the Islamic Republic. With the new regime came international isolation, cultural devastation, and profound personal loss for Neda. Her father was arrested and her mother was forced to make a desperate escape, pregnant and with Neda in tow.
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I learned so much. Great pacing, felt like I time-traveled
- By Jess Fuchs on 02-07-22
What listeners say about The Road from Raqqa
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Darcy
- 09-07-20
Enjoyed this very much
The narrator did an excellent job of reading this engaging and often harrowing story. A great winding path of two Syrian brothers, along which I learned about Syrian tribal culture, Raqqa, their families, and the terrors of war, ISIS, and becoming a refugee. Also, our country, as experienced by a new American.
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- Ken
- 07-28-20
Vivid and moving story
This book is beautifully written and very moving. It tells the story of two brothers from Raqqa, Syria, and their quest to find peace and opportunity for themselves and their family. I loved learning more about this family and the culture of Syria. I hope and pray Syria will one day be safe to live in again.
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- Gunar
- 11-27-21
A story you should hear.
This book was very well written and tells a story we should all hear. I highly recommend this book. I listened through quickly because it really kept my attention.
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- Brandy
- 12-02-22
What an incredible story!
I found out about this book by eating at Cafe Rakka, I’m so glad Chef Rakka has it there on display and so incredibly grateful to hear this story. Your family is incredible!!
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-04-20
Gripping & Meaningful
Jordan Ritter Conn unfurls the story of family—lineage, bond, separation, reunion and the unknown future—as he takes the reader deep into worlds that coexist and connect while at the same time seem as if they reside in two completely different universes. Ritter Conn deftly educates the reader on history and geopolitics while introducing the Alkasem family with exquisite depth and tenderness to which every human can relate.
Gripping and powerful. Best book I’ve read this year!
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1 person found this helpful
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- GB
- 08-17-20
An engaging view of the refugee situation in Syria
This book provides a remarkable insight into the challenges both in Syria and for those refugees trying to escape war in the Middle East. Having read “Homes: A Refugee Story” which collected a number of awards for a similar story, I have to say that this book was quite a bit better. This did not feel like a dry biography but more like you were sitting at the table with the Alkasem family as they sipped tea and talked. The main characters, older brother, Riyad, and younger brother, Bashar, are very relatable and I truly enjoyed hearing their story. There were times I wish the author might have provided more information on the challenges Riyad faced after moving to the U.S. as he went from poverty to being a successful businessman and then back to poverty and then back to being a successful businessman but I ended up appreciating the author’s focus on the family’s experience in Syria and escaping Syria.
As someone who has spent most of their life in the United States, I found it fascinating to listen to the different views of the two brothers. Riyad was always the wanderer and rebel. His outspokenness against the al-Assad regime (the father Hafez rather than the son and current ruler, Bashar) eventually forces him to make his way to the United States. Bashar chose to stay in the remote desert community of Raqqa to care for his family and try to become a successful lawyer and judge within the repressive regime of Bashar al-Assad. When the two come back together in a Syria being torn apart by rebels, I listened to the viewpoints of both brothers in amazement. Riyad, supporting the revolutionary groups, puts his family and himself in danger without even knowing it. Bashar, supporting and working within the existing government, recognizes the danger of the rebel groups but fails to acknowledge the dangers his own government is putting himself and his family in.
I recommend this book very highly to anyone interested in gaining perspective on both the war in Syria and the challenges that refugees face because of that war.
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-18-22
far exceeded original expectations
outstanding, memorable, human. this is one I will remember for many, many years. connects many different worlds.
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