All Community Read Author Visits Brooks

Talking with a Modern World History class on Monday afternoon at Brooks, Omar El Akkad was frank. The American War author admitted... he wasn’t sure what takeaway he wanted students to get from his visit to the school.

“I'm more than twice their age, so what do I know about their lives to be offering advice left, right and center?”

“I don't know what your high school experience is like. I have no idea,” said Egyptian-born El Akkad, turning toward the fourth-formers facing him in a semi-circle of desks in the classroom within the academic building, adjacent to the school library. He grew up in Qatar without libraries, reading censored books, before moving to Canada as a teenager.

“It's very narratively satisfying to pick a particular spot and say, ‘History starts here.’ And usually, people will pick whatever spot is most beneficial to them, or whatever side they're on … but if you're trying to understand people as human beings, every one of us exists on a continuum.”

“There are things that probably happened to all of you before this class started that influenced you that I know nothing about,” he told the students. “If history starts at the moment this class starts, I have a very limited picture of who many of you are. …My hope is that you understand that other human beings exist on a continuum.”

It’s that idea that underpins his internationally bestselling dystopian novel about a second American civil war: Just as people evolve with their life experiences, “events don’t happen instantaneously,” he said.

El Akkad flew from his home in Oregon to Brooks this weekend to discuss American War, the school's latest All-Community Read, in classrooms and with the campus community.

He met with history classes (including Women of the Ancient World, Making of the Muslim World, Modern World History, and Journalism) and talked with another small group during dinner in the dining hall, before offering a special talk and Q & A in the Chapel Monday evening.

With self-deprecating humor the journalist — who began his career with assignments covering war in Afghanistan and activities at Guantanamo Bay — shared personal stories and insight into topics in the novel during his Chapel talk.

See all the photos from his visit on brooksschoolphotos.com.

History Department Chair Michele Musto outlined a few of those topics when she announced the book selection back in May, sharing that American War, “considers such ideas as climate change, states vs. federal rights, refugees, the unfairness of war, terrorism, and international politics.”

Read the history department’s discussion guide for American War

Sharing photos from Egypt and Qatar, as well as of facilities in Guantanamo Bay, El Akkad put a human face on the places and events he discussed in Chapel.

Fielding questions from students afterward, he also revealed what working as a war reporter is really like and provided insight into his multi-year writing process, allowing students to consider the All Community Read from an insider's view, too. 

Olivia Johnson ’24 appreciated the new perspective. Hearing from the author in person "made it more real," she said. "It made me want to look back at the book and be like, 'Oh, this is actually what he meant when he was developing this character,' because he talked a lot about having relationships with the characters as he's writing them."

Overall, "I just loved that sitting there hearing him speak," she said. "I could tell how passionate he was about what he was talking about." 

Back in that Modern World History class Monday afternoon, El Akkad did ultimately point to some messages that he hopes come through to Brooksians — through his novel.

"The first is that it's very difficult to humanize anybody if you pick a particular finish line and you decide that they only exist at that finish line. [That there was] no lineage," he said.   

 “The other thing I would try to get at is just this notion of the universality of the negative space of life,” El Akkad added. “People generally tend to react the same way to being on the receiving ends of bullets and missiles. They tend to react the same way when their houses are destroyed. …There's a reason I set American War in America and it's not because I'm interested in predicting the American future. There's a line in that book somewhere that says something like, the universal slogan of war is, 'If it had been you, you'd have done no different.' That's not a means to justify anything. I think it's a truism.”
 

A prior All Community Read? Born A Crime by Trevor Noah.