Kurdistan: After Such Knowledge, What Forgiveness?

Kurdistan is both a memoir of veteran war reporter Jonathan Randal’s years spent reporting from Iran, Israel, Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq, and a shocking, tragic first-hand account of diplomacy and politics in the Middle East, from a writer who had unparalleled access to Kurdish leaders and to diplomats, ministers, intelligence agents, fighters, and journalists. Randal presents a sympathetic but uncompromising portrait of a people known for their ability to endure hardship as much as their talent for vehement internecine warfare, and their gift for friendship.

Translated into Kurdish, Arabic, Farsi and banned in Turkey, where someone can be arrested for merely saying ‘Kurdistan’, Randal’s account of 1990s war reportage remains just as compelling, urgent and resolute today as it did thirty years ago.

Extraordinary … a book we can’t afford to ignore Richard C. Holbrooke, broker of the Dayton Accords on Bosnia