Geert van Kesteren - Baghdad Calling (signed)

Episode, Rotterdam, 2008. First edition. Softback. SIGNED by Geert van Kesteren, with a dedication to Mark Power. (It's my second copy, Geert!)

Condition: Good. Cover is a little dented and scuffed, but not too bad. The inside pages (newsprint) are perfect.

ISBN: 978-90-5973-083-0

"Three years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, gruesome violence and hopeless political crisis dominated the country. It spawned the world’s biggest exodus of civilians since 1948; out of 23 million Iraqis, well over four and a half million fled by 2006. The UNHCR estimated there were more than 1,2 million Iraqi refugees in Syria and half a million in Jordan. I decided to visit these refugees - Iraqis of all sects - and have one question on my mind; ‘why did you leave?’ To my surprise, they took their mobile phones and showed me reality…

In 2005-7, a mobile phone with a camera was a novelty. In post-war Iraq, it quickly became an item of utmost importance. Insurgents used mobile phones to communicate and detonate bombs, while Iraqis relied on them to avoid danger. It guided the refugees to safety. I also noticed that the refugees used their mobile phones as family albums; a window to dreams, love, and terror." (Geert van Kesteren)