Guantánamo Diary

By: Mohamedou Ould Slahi, Larry Siems - editor

Narrated by: Peter Ganim

An unprecedented international publishing event: the first and only diary written by a still-imprisoned Guantv°namo detainee.

Since 2002, Mohamedou Slahi has been imprisoned at the detainee camp at Guantv°namo Bay, Cuba. In all these years, the United States has never charged him with a crime. Although he was ordered released by a federal judge, the U.S. government fought that decision, and there is no sign that the United States plans to let him go.

Three years into his captivity Slahi began a diary, recounting his life before he disappeared into U.S. custody and daily life as a detainee. His diary is not merely a vivid record of a miscarriage of justice, but a deeply personal memoir -- terrifying, darkly humorous, and surprisingly gracious. Published now for the first time, Guantv°namo Diary is a document of immense historical importance.

Critic reviews

"A longtime captive has written the most profound and disturbing account yet of what it's like to be collateral damage in the war against terror."—Mark Danner, NYTBR, & Editors' Choice

"Slahi is a fluent, engaging and at times eloquent writer, even in his fourth language, English....Slahi's book offers a first-person account of the experience of torture. For that reason alone, the book is necessary reading for those seeking to understand the dangers that Guantánamo's continued existence poses to Americans in the world."—Deborah Pearlstein, Washington Post

"A riveting new book has emerged from one of the most contentious places in the world, and the U.S. government doesn't want you to read it....You don't have to be convinced of Slahi's innocence to be appalled by the incidents he describes."—Kevin Canfield, San Francisco Chronicle

"Guantánamo Diary will leave you shell-shocked."—Vanity Fair

"Slahi emerges from the pages of his diary...as a curious and generous personality, observant, witty and devout, but by no means fanatical....Guantánamo Diary forces us to consider why the United States has set aside the cherished idea that a timely trial is the best way to determine who deserves to be in prison.—Scott Shane, New York Times

"An historical watershed and a literary triumph....The diary is as close as most of us will ever get to understanding the living hell this man--who has never been charged with a crime, and whom a judge ordered released in 2010--continues to suffer."—Elias Isquith, Salon

"Everyone should read Guantánamo Diary....Just by virtue of having been written inside Guantánamo, Slahi's book would be a triumph of humanity over chaos. But Guantánamo Diary turns out to be especially human. Slahi doesn't just humanize himself; he also humanizes his guards and interrogators. That's not to say that he excuses them. Just the opposite: he presents them as complex individuals who know kindness from cruelty and right from wrong."—Joshua Rothman, The New Yorker

"The tragedy of Slahi's memoir is not just his grave abuse at the hands of U.S. officials. It is that....Slahi's account of life--if it can be called that--at Guantánamo is not the exception. It is the rule, and it continues today."—Alka Pradhan, Reuters

"Guantánamo Diary stands as perhaps the most human depiction of an entire post-9/11 system."—Omar El Akkad, Globe and Mail

"Literary history was made today with the publication of the first-ever book by a still-imprisoned Guantánamo detainee....As astonishing as the scope of the abuse is Slahi's enduring warmth, even for his torturers and jailers."—Noa Yachot, Huffington Post

"A vision of hell, beyond Orwell, beyond Kafka: perpetual torture prescribed by the mad doctors of Washington."—John le Carré

Sobering story

This is an amazing tale of one man's journey. It was impossible for me to disbelieve this story, and I believe it is one all Americans should read. We tend to believe that whatever America does is right and moral because we are Americans, and this story should give us pause.

Great book. If you want to know!!!!

This book for the people who want to know what the government is hiding in Guantánamo.

Redacted!!!

A very interesting book and a must read but after 621 times listening to the comment “redacted”, I couldn’t take it anymore because it became so incredibly annoying. I think they should have given permission to listening to all the names, places, numbers of this inhuman institution.

The redaction's made it a very difficult listen.

I really struggled with this one due to all the redaction's. Definitely not one of my favorites audiobooks. Very unremarkable

The Gitmo Archipelago?

Judging by the political debates we're still working through the Iraq War fiasco as a nation, and many of us are still trying to get our minds around what, if any, responsibility we have as Americans to evaluate or to atone for the events that followed September 11th, 2001. I would suggest that such an exercise would be incomplete without hearing Mr. Slahi's story. Whether it is accurate or not, it's a point of view that has not been well publicized, and that is critical to understanding what went wrong, why, and how we avoid repeating our mistakes. We can start by giving Mr. Slahi an immediate, public, and fair trial. Or we can release hiim with compensation and apologies for treatment that is reminiscent of Stalin's Gulags.