Blindfold: A Memoir of Capture, Torture, and Enlightenment

In 2012, American freelance journalist Theo Padnos crossed the Turkish border into Syria with the help of the men who became his kidnappers. Blindfold: A Memoir of Capture, Torture, and Enlightenment recounts his subsequent terrifying ordeal, providing insight into war-torn Syria and his jailers, who belonged to the al Qaeda affiliate Jebhat al-Nusra. Padnos is unsparing in describing the combination of naiveté, idealism and recklessness that helped lead him into the arms of his kidnappers; over the course of nearly two years in captivity, he was abused, tortured and starved. Padnos describes the remarkable mental adaptations that helped him survive against all odds.

The titular blindfold refers to a scrap of fabric given to Padnos near the beginning of his captivity. It became a source of comfort for him, in part because its flimsiness sometimes allowed him to see what he was not meant to see. Thus, even as a captive kept in a series of cramped prisons, Padnos was able to witness terrible and remarkable things, from executions and indoctrination to the ordinary hopes and dreams of his captors and fellow prisoners. Blindfold is therefore not only an incredible survival story, but also a record of what Padnos considers a psychic transformation taking place around him that allows his captors to believe that "one's handgun is an instrument of God, and that in murdering a helpless woman in the street, one is bringing justice to Syria." Blindfold is invaluable as a record of these invisible changes rippling through Syria. --Hank Stephenson, the Sun magazine, manuscript reader

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