City of Thorns: Nine Lives in the World's Largest Refugee Camp (Thorndike Core) - Hardcover

'A superb work that highlights the essential humanity of those faceless masses buffeted by events and desperately seeking salvation in one of the world's most troubled spots, [and offers an] outstanding glimpse into the shattered and insecure lives of those on the frontline of the global migration crisis... This is a highly readable book. It is also a damning indictment of the hypocrisy behind camps, which offer such pat solution to refugee crises for aid agencies and politicians... These are stories that need to be heard -- Ian Birrell, the Observer
'This gripping book about lives trapped between a rock and a hard place is a clear-minded, humanitarian insight into the desperation and resilience of the stateless' -- Saga Magazine
'A great read ... Stunning' -- Andrew Marr, BBC Start the Week
'Rawlence spent several years in Dadaab, Kenya, the world's biggest refugee camp - and this is his account of the lives of several of its inhabitants. For all Europe's panic about the recent wave of migrants, City of Thorns underlines how the vast majority of the world's 60 million displaced never leave hellholes like Dadaab.' --Patrick Kingsley author of The New Odyssey, Guardian

'Rawlence provides an intricate portrait of this sprawling settlement' -- Radio Times

'An absorbing book, full of heart... [a] thoughtful portrait' -- Katrina Manson, New Statesman

'[This] remarkable book comes as a timely reminder that the vast majority of the world's refugee population will never see European shores... Rawlence is brilliant on Dadaab's complex material life and what seems like a huge experiment in a mixed economy... [a] timely, disturbing and compelling book' -- Megan Vaughan, Guardian

'Rawlence can write with beauty [...] but the lyricism never distracts from the precision of his reporting... Rawlence's aim is to make distant lives matter, and in that he succeeds. [He] teases out a narrative that, like Dadaab, pulsates with life' --Tristan McConnell, The Times

'Gripping' -- the Economist
'The most absorbing book in recent memory about life in refugee camps' -- Wall Street Journal (Europe)

'This is a book that bristles with anger and despair, but is also full of compassion and dignity. Rawlence offers no solutions, no policy prescriptions. He simply lays out these people's lives and asks us to notice them - and to care' -- Robert Colvile, Daily Telegraph

'Rawlence vividly conveys the strain of living in the camp, always hungry, just waiting: [a] masterful account. Next time someone refers derisorily to a 'bunch of migrants', get them to read this book' --Christine Lamb, the Sunday Times

BEN RAWLENCE is a former researcher for Human Rights Watch in the Horn of Africa. He is the author of Radio Congo, and has written for a wide range of publications including the Guardian, the New York Times, the London Review of Books, and Prospect. He lives in the Black Mountains in Wales with his family.