Prize-winning journalist Rania Abouzeid talks about her eye-opening book, which tells the tragedy of the Syrian War through the dramatic stories of four young people seeking safety and freedom in a shattered country. Beginning with the first rumblings of dissent in 2011, No Turning Back dissects the tangle of ideologies and allegiances that make up the Syrian conflict and shows the unravelling of a nation: peaceful protests in Damascus collapsing into violence, families on both sides shattered by nighttime shellings, and religious conviction sharpened by rage to a radical point. Abouzeid brings readers deep inside Assad’s prisons, to covert meetings where foreign states and organizations manipulated the rebels, and to the highest levels of Islamic militancy and the formation of ISIS. Based on more than five years of clandestine reporting on the front lines, No Turning Back is an utterly engrossing human drama full of vivid, indelible characters that shows how hope can flourish even amid one of the twenty-first century’s greatest humanitarian disasters. She will be in conversation with Robert L. McKenzie, Senior Fellow & Founding Director of the Muslim Diaspora Initiative at New America.  Reception to follow the discussion.