In the final section of the book, Coates writes: "Sometimes I would be riding past a checkpoint and look out and, to my shock, see a young soldier with his rifle pointed at the road, which is to say at me. As soon as I would see this, I would search for a good reason, a justification, but eventually I started to realize there never was one. Even as I listened to Avner talk, even as we sped easily and unimpeded down roads that Palestinians on the West Bank cannot use, part of me was still searching. I did this because the weight of evil is so great. I did this because if the worst was true, if I was forced to see it square, then I knew what must come next. I did this because 'a good reason' is also a way out. The weakness in me is always talking. But so were my ancestors."
This passage comes in the midst of Coates' reflections on what he's learned/learning about the history of Israel and Palestine, and the way Palestinians live, but the book as a whole keeps a careful, if sometimes indirect, focus on relearning, and on coming to grips with hard truths, while understanding the harsh reality of the fact that so many others see/feel a different truth or live in denial because that denial has been encouraged by the people in power around them. And the truth is, this section could also have been written about censorship and the rising authoritarianism in the U.S. with too few changes.
Like so many of us, Coates learned one history, and found himself relearning what had been hidden from him beneath the words of people in power. And this section also comes on the heels of a section on censorship, and thoughtful discussion of how and why the U.S. is currently where it is, mired in misinformation and efforts to ban knowledge, and even whole bodies of knowledge, even if the people in power and many people fighting for such bans won't say quite what the larger mission is, and how important it is that many people stay ignorant.
This is a difficult book to read, full of reflection and hard truths spoken plainly. It ranges across themes, times, and locations as it examines history, censorship, and the placating lies told to maintain the status quo.
Coates' plain language makes the beginning deceptively easy to wander through, to take in and acknowledge, which makes the leading in to what comes after all the more powerful.
I'll be sitting with this book for a while. I wish I could make everyone read it.