I was looking for some background to help me understand Rojava. This book is well written and appears well sourced, though the author definitely has a pro-US position (as stated clearly in the introduction). Most of the body of the book is pulled from former-PKK members, some estranged, some not, most living in exile from Turkey, as well as interviews from Apo on how to party formed and grew until the books publication in 2007 (after the rise of the AKP, Apo's incarceration with the help of the US, and before the Rojava revolution). The author does not appear sympathetic to the PKK or the Kurdish liberation struggle, but at least isn't a simp for Turkey? Aliza Marcus, the author, was actually arrested and forced out of Turkey as a journalist for publishing about Kurdish life (where recognition that there is such a thing as a Kurd, or Kurdish language still brings repression). Though, to my understanding the author The read is easy, though there is a lot to keep straight about alliances and groups (thankfully there is a small list of Turkish and Kurdish acronyms at the start). I hope to follow this up with "This fire never dies – one year with the PKK" by Frederike Geerdink, published in 2018, based on the interview she conducted with Popular Front podcast. Also, more writings from Rojava. I'm a bit greedy.