In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks to journalist and author Anand Gopal about his wonderful new book Days of Love and Rage, a profoundly moving and intellectually stimulating history of the Syrian revolution told from the perspective of the northern town of Manbij.Anand and Thomas discuss: Anand's first-hand witnessing of 9/11 How Anand embedded with the Taliban Revolution as a crisis of faith and collapse of social reality Manbij as a microcosm of the tensions of Syrian modernity The failure of Manbij's democratic experiment and the limits of liberalism How ISIS exploited both material grievances and liberal norms Baathism: egalitarian ethos vs authoritarian realityFind Gopal on X: https://x.com/Anand_GopalJoin the Conflicted Community here: ⁠https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm⁠ Find Conflicted on X: ⁠https://x.com/MHconflicted⁠And Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted⁠And Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod⁠And YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sdlF1mY5t4⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ⁠megaphone.fm/adchoices⁠Conflicted is a Message Heard production.Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.This episode was produced by Thomas Small and edited by Lizzy Andrews.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices