Days of Love and Rage

* Shortlisted 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.

Anand Gopal is a journalist and author of No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War Through Afghan Eyes, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and winner of the Ridenhour Prize for Journalism. His coverage of Iraq has won the George Polk Award, the Overseas Press Club Award, and the National Magazine Award. He received his PhD from Columbia University and is an assistant research professor at the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict and the Center on the Future of War at Arizona State University.

Preface
Book One: Lives (1963-2010)
1. One - Little Hyena
2. Two - The Absolute Spirit
3. Three - Oss!
Book Two: Dreamers (December 2010-December 2011)
Prologue
1. One
2. Two (May-June 2011)
3. Three (July-August 2011)
4. Four (September 2011)
5. Five (October-November 2011)
6. Six (December 2011)
Book Three: The Republic (January 2012-January 2014)
Prologue
1. One (January-March 2012)
2. Two (April-June 2012)
3. Three (July 2012)
4. Four (August 2012)
5. Five (September 2012)
6. Six (October 2012)
7. Seven (November 2012)
8. Eight (December 2012)
9. Nine (January 2013)
10. Ten (January 2013)
11. Eleven (February 2013)
12. Twelve (March 2013)
13. Thirteen (April 2013)
14. Fourteen (May 2013)
15. Fifteen (June 2013)
16. Sixteen (July 2013)
17. Seventeen (August 2013)
18. Eighteen (September 2013)
19. Nineteen (September 2013)
20. Twenty (October 2013)
21. Twenty-One (November 2013)
22. Twenty-Two (December 2013)
23. Twenty-Three (January 2014)
Book Four: The State (2014-2016)
Prologue
1. One
2. Two
3. Three
4. Four
5. Five
6. Six
Book Five: Between Things Ended and Things Begun (2017-2024)
1. One
2. Two
3. Three
4. Four
On Methodology
Works Cited Notes
Acknowledgments
Index