221x142mm, 192 pages, Hardback
ISBN: 9781-917045-04-9 Price: £25.00 Available: June 2025 available for pre-order:
And the Deep River Ran On |
AND THE DEEP RIVER RAN ON
Essays on Empire and Culture, from the Middle East to the West By Mardean Isaac Combining moving storytelling, pioneering reporting and rare insights, And The Deep River Ran On is a powerful debut collection of essays, ranging across art, literature and music to politics, war and international relations.
“Rich in detail and beautifully written, these essays—including previously untold stories—open a fascinating window onto the Middle East, and the history and legacy of Western power.” “Mardean Isaac’s book of essays offers a sumptuous explanation of why the Middle East is such a fraught geographical and civilizational space. It is down in the weeds in the best sense of the term.” “Magisterial in scope, and yet wonderfully intimate and personal. This is history as it is rarely written; the history of a people who through genocide were denied first their lives, and then any kind of place they could call their own. And yet stubbornly, what remained of them in the diaspora, kept vibrant and alive a new history, built up of stories of complex individual lives, and magnificent personal achievements such as this book.” “This is an important contribution to our understanding of the impact of Western policy on minority communities in the Middle East. By giving voice to individual stories, past and present, Isaac raises the question of how best to protect human rights – and calls for a rethink of Western policy.” Isaac has a keen eye for the resilient fragility of individual lives and cultures in the face of the homogenising sweep of the nation state and the dynamic of empires, whether in the West or the East. The book includes some of the most detailed writing on the condition of Assyrians, whose destiny has been shaped by a struggle for survival in response to genocide and repeated upheavals, and also covers the Yazidi genocide at the hands of ISIS. Isaac’s narration of Jewish histories encompasses the legacy of the Holocaust, the relationship between Israel and Kurdish nationalism, and the ghosts of the Jews of Iraq. His essays from London reflect a unique sense for the stories seething under the surface of that great city. Isaac profiles individuals—from Berlin and Paris to Baghdad and Tel Aviv—at heroic odds with mass forces. His cast of artists, writers, and athletes are outsiders, dreamers, and travellers between worlds, whose lives are testament to the vast scope of human possibilities. |
About the Author
Mardean Isaac is a writer and editor. His writing has appeared in publications including The Awl, The Blizzard, the Financial Times, Lapham’s Quarterly, New Lines magazine, Tablet magazine, and the Times Literary Supplement. He was educated at Cambridge University, where he studied English and French literature, and Oxford University, where he studied Syriac literature and the late antiquity period in the Middle East. More here and here. |
