THE TRUTH IS EASY
Conversations on Palestine and Freedom
Edited by Saree Makdisi, Ussama Makdisi, and Karim Makdisi
Haymarket Books (20 July 2027)
Trade paper • ISBN-13: 9798903930050 • US $24.95 • 5 in x 8 in • 272 pgs
ABOUT THE BOOK:
A vital resource for understanding the ongoing calamity in Gaza, through a chorus of fiercely intelligent and principled voices, speaking from inside the struggle for justice
In 2023, against the backdrop of Israel’s genocidal campaign, Saree, Ussama, and Karim Makdisi launched the Makdisi Street podcast. Over the following months, leading figures joined the brothers to situate the genocide within the necessary contexts of history, law, politics, and culture―on the local, regional, and international levels. In this authoritative and carefully curated collection, the Makdisi brothers distill key moments from interviews, providing a depth and breadth of analysis on Palestine otherwise unseen in the Western media landscape. The result is a kaleidoscopic work that provides readers with an understanding of the struggle for freedom in Palestine and the global history of which it forms a part.
Featuring interviews with Salman Abu-Sitta on surviving the Nakba and the right of return, Mohammed El-Kurd on the politics of appeal and the role of resistance, Ta-Nehisi Coates on Black American and Palestinian culture, Noura Erakat on the end of the international rule-based order, Peter Beinart on the generational schism within Jewish communities caused by the genocide, Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian on the affirmation of love and life that lies at the heart of the Palestinian struggle, and more.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Saree Makdisi is the chair of the English Department at UCLA and a scholar of Palestine, colonial history, and its afterlives. He is the author of Tolerance Is a Wasteland and Palestine Inside Out. He writes frequently for the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, The Guardian, n+1, and the London Review of Books.
Ussama Makdisi is the inaugural May Ziadeh Chair in Palestinian and Arab Studies, Professor of History, and Chancellor’s Professor at the University of California Berkeley. He is the author of Age of Coexistence. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The Houston Chronicle, The Yale Review, and Jewish Currents. He has also appeared on numerous television and radio shows including Al Jazeera, TRT International, and NPR’s Morning Edition.
Karim Makdisi is an associate professor of International Politics and Founding Director of the Graduate Program in Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut. He is also a senior fellow at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, a founding member and affiliated researcher in the Arab Council for the Social Sciences, and an elected member of the board of directors at the Academic Council on the United Nations. He is the coeditor of Land of the Blue Helmets and Interventions in Conflict.
RIGHTS INFORMATION:
Please contact subagents for the following languages and territories:
| Language/Territory | Subagent |
|---|---|
| China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam | Big Apple Agency |
| Dutch | Sebes & Bisseling Literary Agency |
| English outside North America | David Grossman Literary Agency |
| French | Deborah Druba Agency |
| German | Paul & Peter Fritz AG Literatur Agentur |
| Greek | Read n' Right Agency |
| Hebrew | The Deborah Harris Agency |
| Italian | Berla & Griffini Rights Agency |
| Japanese | The English Agency (Japan) Ltd |
| Korean | BC Agency, or Korea Copyright Center |
| Portuguese | RIFF Agency |
| Russia/Baltics/Eastern Europe | Prava I Prevodi |
| Scandinavia | Sebes & Bisseling Literary Agency |
| Spanish in Latin America | MB Agencia Literaria |
| Spanish in Spain | MB Agencia Literaria |
| Turkish | Anatolialit Agency |
For all other languages/territories, please contact Roam Agency.