Overview

Sanjar Rohām, an Iranian-American, was an in-demand successful business consultant in Los Angeles before the 2008 crash of the U.S. economy compelled him to rethink his career choices after discovering an advertisement for a translator fluent in Pashto and willing to serve as an interpreter with the U.S. Marines. By October 2010, he was on the frontlines of Operation Enduring Freedom in the Taliban stronghold of Helmand Province in Afghanistan. Fighting suspicions from Marines because of his Persian ethnicity, as well as from Afghan interpreters, Rohām attempts to prove himself by volunteering for every mission the command will allow, experiencing mortar attacks, IED detonations, losses of friends, and the additional dangers of being a foreigner in a land that promises harm to outsiders.

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Reviews

Land of Tears brings an important new perspective from one who straddles the war zone worlds of us and them with the bridge of language. With insight, humor, heart-wrenching detail, and compassion for those on all sides, Rohām captures just how critical-and precarious-that bridge can be. It's a story of war and all the surrounding darkness but also an unexpected awakening to the possibilities of life. LAUREN KAY JOHNSON, author of The Fine Art of Camouflage Sanjar Rohām's Land of Tears, inspired by his experience in Afghanistan as an interpreter, reminds us of the blood, sweat, and tears shed in a war many already want to forget. But those of us sent there can't forget, and we can't let those who sent us forget. Rohām has made a valuable contribution to the canon of war literature. TOM YOUNG, author of The Mullah's Storm, Sand and Fire, and others Land of Tears comes as much from the head and the heart as it does from months of boredom, moments of terror, and observations of beauty in the midst of chaos. Sanjar Rohām speaks from personal experience and makes the particular universal and the mundane profound. More than an important book, it is a necessary story. TRAVIS KLEMPAN, author of Hills Hide Mountains and Have Snakes, Need Birds Land of Tears is a gritty, make-you-squirm reflection on the sorrow, horror, and guilt that the American experience in Afghanistan inflicted on Sanjar Rohām, who traded a life in Los Angeles for a deployment as an interpreter in Helmand Province. But this memoir lifts us up with its steady stream of inspirational moments. Rohām's candor about the challenges he faced and his humility about the commitment he upheld makes him feel like an old, respected friend. JOHN LAWSON III, author of Kurtz

Author Information

In 2008 Sanjar Roham was an in-demand business consultant from Los Angeles when the 2008 crash of the economy compelled him to answer an employment advertisement for a translator fluent in Pashto and willing to serve with the U.S. Marines. Two years later, Roham (a pseudonym) found himself on the front lines of Operation Enduring Freedom in the Taliban stronghold of Helmand Province in Afghanistan. LAND OF TEARS is his first book. Today, Roham is gearing up for his next assignment overseas.

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