Aarti Shahani

Fifteen years ago, the country Syria joined the Arab Spring.

Lubna Mirai became part of this movement, first as a casual protester and over time as a photojournalist who documented the attacks and killings that the government claimed never happened.

She was unlike the majority of protesters in a key way.

She is Alawite.

the religious minority that ruled the country.

Lubna didn't consider herself political at first, but she did deeply resent her father.

He came from a poor Alawite family and made his money by allegedly being an assassin for the father of Bashar al-Assad.

When daughter defied father, he punished her for it horrifically.

The Syrian civil war lasted far longer than Lubna Mirai ever expected.

The estimated death toll is more than 650,000.

Another 100,000 people have been forcibly disappeared.

And more than 13 million Syrians remain displaced.

Syria had 22 million people at the start of the civil war, so that's more than half of the population.

Lubna Mirai's new book is called Defiance, a memoir of awakening, rebellion, and survival in Syria.

Two parts in particular really got under my skin.

First, the toxic family dynamics that honestly feel wincingly familiar to me and probably to many of you listening.

And then the less familiar part, she documents how her country fell apart.

That's something a lot of us feel increasing anxiety around.

Lubna Mirai, welcome to Fresh Air.

Thank you.