Helen Lackner seems to have written a book about the history and current state of Yemen. Yet, having completed the monumental journey that is finishing it, it feels like a book about so much more. The UN, the entire Middle East, Islamic culture, economic lives of the world’s poorest, failures of nonprofits, climate change, and Yemen itself are all topics explored with respect to the civil war. This book reshaped my thoughts about the world and gave me essential perspectives I never should have lacked. If you’re on the fence about this book, absolutely read it. It will be worth it.

It is very strange the nostalgia I had while reading this book and how it detailed the periods of Yemen's past as if it was sequencing my own. I can only cry and wish that my Yemen goes back to what it once was, and that we can all go back to smell the monsoon rains, and listen to our songs while sipping some Yemeni coffee.