Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for Proof of Life by Daniel Levin - Available

Proof of Life

Twenty Days on the Hunt for a Missing Person in the Middle East

by Daniel Levin
Will Collyer
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
​"Truly thrilling. Daniel Levin brilliantly conveys both the menace and the evil of Middle Eastern intrigue, and some victories of human kindness over cruelty and despair."
—Daniel Kahneman, New York Times bestselling author of Thinking, Fast and Slow

"In laying bare the raw human toll of the ferocious and cruel Syrian conflict, Proof of Life asks the reader to make a choice between cynicism and compassion."
—Ayaan Hirsi Ali, New York Times bestselling author of Infidel
Daniel Levin was at his office when he got a call from an acquaintance with an urgent, cryptic request to meet in Paris. A young man had gone missing in Syria. No government, embassy, or intelligence agency would help. Could he? Would he? So begins a suspenseful, shocking, and at times brutal true story of one man's search to find a missing person in Syria over twenty tense days. Levin, a lawyer turned armed-conflict negotiator, uses his extensive contacts to chase leads throughout the Middle East, meeting with powerful sheikhs, drug lords, and sex traffickers in his pursuit of the truth. He also discovers remarkable people who retain their essential goodness and spirit in the face of adversity.
In Proof of Life, Levin dives deep into a shadowy world where few have access—an underground industry of war where everything is for sale, including arms, drugs, and even people. He offers a fascinating study of how people use leverage to get what they want from one another and where no one does a favor without wanting something in return, whether it's immediately or years down the road.
Proof of Life is a fast-paced thriller wrapped in a memoir, a must-read for anyone interested in power dynamics, international affairs, the Middle East, or our growing number of forever wars.
The son of a diplomat, Daniel Levin spent his early years in the Middle East and in Africa and then trained as a lawyer. Currently a board member of the Liechtenstein Foundation for State Governance, he has, for the past twenty years, worked with governments and development institutions worldwide, focusing on economic development and political reform through financial literacy, political inclusion, and constitutional initiatives. He is also engaged in track 3 diplomacy and mediation efforts in war zones. Levin's first book, Nothing but a Circus: Misadventures among the Powerful, was published in Germany, Japan, Russia, and the UK. Proof of Life is his first book to be published in the United States. He lives outside New York City.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 18, 2021

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781649040473
      • File size: 271442 KB
      • Duration: 09:25:30

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Kirkus

      April 1, 2021
      Anecdotal account of an effort to find a missing young man in civil war-riven Syria. Levin, a lawyer and armed-conflict negotiator who has vast experience with the Middle East, delivers "a story about loss and sadness, about violence and death, about unspeakable cruelty and greed--the daily menu of Syria's devastating war." More than that, he reveals the complex grammar of quid pro quo that is required for any negotiation in the region. At stake was the son of an influential American, and tracking him down fell to Levin, who had been involved in a project to nurture young Syrians to take roles in a postwar government. Via that connection, he was often approached to help find missing persons with the assumption that he "might know someone who knew someone who knew someone who could help. The classic Levantine arrangement, in other words." Finding that chain of someones involved visits to several countries and encounters with a range of characters, from a smooth, charming interlocutor who was quite helpful to a variety of gangsters and strongmen. Levin didn't find the hoped-for answer to the question of the young man's disappearance, but he did help effect an unforeseen rescue that, one hopes, will one day change the shape of regional politics. Despite some unnecessary digressions--e.g., the author's story of his visit to a wealthy racist in the Virginia countryside, one with clear political clout himself, doesn't add to the primary narrative--every moment that features the fixer named Khalid is worth the price of admission. Although Khalid has plenty of shady connections with the rich and powerful on all sides of the region's rivalries, he also serves as one of the book's much-needed moral compasses: "I'm really sorry, Khalid. I have no choice," Levin protests of a meeting that conflicts with his schedule, to which Khalid replies, "we always have a choice." Though sometimes tangential, Levin's narrative ably depicts the complex interactions of Middle Eastern politics.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Booklist

      April 15, 2021
      Over several years of humanitarian work in the Middle East, Levin developed a number of high-level contacts in that troubled region. As such, it made sense for a colleague to reach to him for help in locating a friend's son who had gone missing somewhere in the war zone in or around Syria. Despite having misgivings and doubts, Levin agrees to try to help, which leads him on a dangerous journey through complicated politics and treacherous environments. Levin's odyssey, which he recounts with frightening verisimilitude here, dealt with a case never noticed by either Western officialdom or media, but the likes of which have been a common occurrence during that region's ongoing strife. Unlike in fiction, Levin's true-life account does not promise a satisfying resolution to the story; in life, war seldom leaves room for happy endings. But whether facing tragedy through the horrors of war or through the randomness of real-life, it remains important to never give up. Levin's story is not an easy one to experience, but it is an important one.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading