The book that made Jon Stewart’s heart hurt

Ishmael Beah, whom I’ve blogged about before and received lots of emails about as a result, was on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Please click on the link to watch him in interview for five minutes — he is brilliant.

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‘I have rarely read a book that makes my heart hurt, but this one does…It’s the most moving and remarkable story I’ve ever read’ Jon Stewart.

Sebastian Junger: The arming of children is one of the greatest evils of the modern world, and yet we know so little about it because the children themselves are swallowed up by the very wars they are forced to wage.

Ishmael Beah has not only emerged intact from this chaos, he has become one of its most eloquent chroniclers. “A Long Way Gone” is one of the most important war stories of our generation. We ignore its message at our peril.

Hilary Mantel: A corrosive, eloquent and illuminating account of a child soldier’s life, and it makes you look at the news with a fresh eye. And ask questions about the responsibility and involvement of other countries in these dire situations.

I think it was very brave of Ishmael Beah to set down an account of his life, when what he most needed, he must have felt, was a chance to forget…

You cannot read this account and think of the author as alien, even when he is acting out what seems to be murderous mania, and what he has done is to make his situation imaginable for us, and stop us from simply turning away in horror. That is the best gift he could give the world.