ELLIOT ACKERMAN, author of the critically acclaimed novel Green on Blue, is based out of Istanbul, where he has covered the Syrian Civil War since 2013. His writings have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New Republic, and The New York Times Magazine, among other publications, and his stories have been included in The Best American Short Stories. He is both a former White House Fellow and Marine, and served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan where he received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart.
"One could argue that the most vital literary terrain in America's
overseas wars is now occupied not by journalists but by
novelists...Elliot Ackerman is certainly one of those
novelists...He has created people who are not the equivalents of
the locally exotic subjects in your average NPR story, and he has
used them to populate a fascinating and topical novel."
--Lawrence Osborne, New York Times Book Review "Ackerman, who lives
in Istanbul and has written some fine reportage from the Turkish
borderlands, knows Gaziantep well and sharply depicts its
incongruities . . . He shows boldness and empathy in trying to
envision modern conflagrations from foreign vantage points."
--Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal "Ackerman's eye for detail grounds
this novel in a space that quickly transports readers into a world
few Americans know . . . Dark at the Crossing is not only a
fictional meditation on remorse, betrayal, love and loss, but also
a journey that returns us to the beautiful and broken world we live
in."
--Washington Post "Dark at the Crossing promises to be one of the
most essential books of 2017."
--Esquire
"Visceral, unsentimental and in a style that begs to be underlined
and savored, this is a novel about how people carry the emotional
and physical scars of war through their lives, and how war both
demolishes and becomes home . . . The many references to actual
street and district names, smells and unique predicaments, such as
underfunded, understaffed hospitals that are teeming with refugees,
heighten the book's authenticity and earnestness."
--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "Dark at the Crossing is every bit as
taut and harrowing as the place it depicts, a region where fifteen
years of relentless war play out in filthy refugee camps and
upscale shopping malls. Elliot Ackerman has written a brilliant,
admirably merciless novel of broken lives, broken places, and good
intentions gone awry."
--Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk "Infused
with profound knowledge, empathy, and chutzpah, Ackerman's writing
is hauntingly evocative and beautiful. It is a rare writer who is
not afraid to deal with the toughest conflicts, ask the hardest
questions, show the darkest side of even heroes, and still manage
to renew our faith in humanity."
--Elif Shafak, author of The Bastard of Istanbul "Here is a
thriller, psychological fiction, political intrigue, and even a
love story all wrapped into a stunningly realistic and sometimes
horrifying package. Put Ackerman on the A-list."
--Library Journal (starred) "Elliot Ackerman's quietly subversive
sensibilities make him one of the most potent and original writers
to emerge from that elite platoon of men and women who, since 9/11,
have laid down their guns to pick up a pen. Once again, here in his
second novel, Dark at the Crossing, Ackerman insists American
readers immerse themselves in the humanity of their country's
enemies and victims. His work is a unique and bittersweet blessing
of raw grace and naked, bleeding empathy."
--Bob Shacochis, author of The Woman Who Lost Her Soul "Once again,
Elliot Ackerman dares to imagine his way into the minds, lives, and
fates of people too many American writers would judge as
inaccessible--perhaps even forbidden. The result is a book whose
emotional acuity is matched only by its literary artistry. They
don't award medals of valor to novelists, but while reading this
book I often thought, Maybe they should."
--Tom Bissell, author of Apostle: Travels Among the Tombs of the
Twelve
"Ackerman has done a masterful job of creating a novel of ideas
that invites thoughtful consideration of the folly and futility of
war and the failure of idealism . . . The text is beautifully
written, and the rendering of the setting is superb. Dark at the
Crossing makes a significant contribution to the literature of
war."
--Booklist (starred)
"Ackerman is a magnificent storyteller. Dark at the Crossing is a
quietly but intensely profound novel. It captures this epic moment
in Middle East history in human terms. It's a riveting read. I
couldn't put it down."
--Robin Wright, author of Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion
across the Islamic World "Welcome to a dark world illuminated by
visions that the writer Elliot Ackerman has brought back from his
wars, his journalistic investigations, and from his artist's
imagination. We see a professional soldier's overused muscles, the
smile of an Ivy League war-profiteer in his bathrobe, a Turkish
woman's seductive glamour--all with lifelike clarity. This novel
makes us see and hear as if we are there, too close for comfort, as
Ackerman's hero and heroine are drawn, against any self-preserving
logic, back across the border into the maelstrom of Syria. Can
anyone make this dark crossing and remain true? Ackerman's heroes
try. Like Robert Stone's A Flag for Sunrise, to which Ackerman's
novel bears comparison, both for its sophisticated understanding of
current affairs and its grim realism, Dark at the Crossing is a
disturbing report on the ancient paradox of war in which life and
death, good and evil are intimately intertwined. After the bodies
fall, the green grass grows over them. We look at the graves and
ask, 'What does it mean?' In this stunning, grief-inspiring book,
it seems to me that Ackerman confesses we do not know. I don't
think anyone can ask more of a piece of literature than this
delivers."
--Atticus Lish, author of Preparation for the Next Life "A timely
and unsettling novel . . . A stark and multifaceted portrait of the
civil war in Syria."
--Publishers Weekly
"Elliot Ackerman's slow-build, atmospheric, and profoundly
compassionate novel offers an unexpected and unique perspective on
the most volatile conflict zone of the present day. Richly detailed
and told with the force of first-hand experience, Dark at the
Crossing is a courageous and vital work."
--Greg Baxter, author of The Apartment "Timely . . . Former Marine
and current Middle East scholar Ackerman explores territory
familiar to him but uncharted to most of us. Ackerman humanizes a
war fraught with tragedy and seemingly without resolution."
--Kirkus Reviews "Ackerman makes clear the tangled, shifting lines
in the war . . . This is a tightly packed, nuanced narrative in
which virtually every character introduced plays a pivotal role.
The story is told with economy and a sense of urgency even when the
characters seem to be stuck in a holding pattern."
--Washington Independent Review of Books
"Affirms [Ackerman's] high regard among contemporary storytellers.
His story blends tension and substance and is anything but
ordinary."
--Military Times
"Dark at the Crossing features a novelist fully growing into his
literary powers . . . Ackerman's gift for prose and dialogue are on
full display. He crafts a brutal love story and also beautifully
depicts a violent part of the world largely misunderstood by those
on the outside of the battle lines. A must read for anyone
attempting to further their understanding of the Middle East, as
well as our shared humanity."
--Writer's Bone "Dark At The Crossing is written with exquisite
care - for both its exactness of language and its materials . . .
Ackerman's American readers are afforded a chance to enter the
emotional range of those they have abandoned in Syria - and in the
end, Ackerman doesn't hold back when the horror mounts."
--On the Seawall
"Ackerman extends an impressive amount of empathy toward each of
the characters . . . Instead of trying to make a grand statement
about what war means, Dark at the Crossing illustrates how war can
mean different things to different people."
--Shelf Awareness
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