Staff Pick
A powerful book on searching for faith, Revelation offers a rare glimpse into the Syrian Civil War from a personal point of view and a thorough look at the soul of a man who is wrestling with himself. If you are a seeker, here is a book that shows the other side of humanity on the other side of the world. Recommended By Jonathan R, Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Acclaimed journalist Dennis Covington examines how faith and violence shape our world.
In war zones witnessing widespread conflict, what makes life at all worth living? When chaos becomes a way of life in places where religion and violence intersect, what do people hold on to? If religious belief is, as Christopher Hitchens argues, the cause of wars and genocide, then is faith the cure?
Dennis Covington pursued answers to these questions for years, traveling deep into places like Syria, Mexico, and the American South. Looking not for rigid doctrines, creeds, or beliefs--which, he says, can be contradictory, even dangerous--he sought something bigger and more fundamental: faith. It's faith in goodness, kindness, and the humanity of the smallest moments that makes the most difficult times bearable.
The young bomb victim who offers a smile from his hospital bed, the grieving parent who shares a photograph, the joined hands of men who were previously mortal enemies, and Covington's own family turmoil. These are some of the moments that leave him touching the beating heart of what it truly is to live.
Like Covington's widely celebrated Salvation on Sand Mountain, Revelation is an intensely personal journey that goes to the edges of a world filled with violence and religious strife to find the enduring worth of living.
Review
"Deftly interweaving personal tragedy with reporting forays into brutal conflicts, Covington...delivers a superb, fast-paced memoir...[Revelation] is an essential, human account of the violent reactions to religious plurality in an increasingly polarized world." Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Review
"This moving and riveting first-person account will appeal to those interested in the Syrian conflict as well as readers who enjoy faith journeys such as those by Anne Lamott and Nadia Bolz-Weber." Library Journal (starred review)
Review
"What comes through here and elsewhere in the book is the dark side of 'witnessing' people in extremity, a frisson that becomes addictive and that confers on the writer a sense of belonging to an elite: those who are willing to look at the dark heart of things." John Wilson, Chicago Tribune
About the Author
Dennis Covington is the author of two novels and three nonfiction books. His book Salvation on Sand Mountain was a National Book Award finalist and is a classic, and his articles have been published in The New York Times and Vogue. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and earned a BA degree from the University of Virginia. He earned his MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, studying under Raymond Carver, and currently teaches creative writing at Texas Tech University.