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No Way But Forward

What is life really like in the disparaged Gaza Strip? No Way but Forward takes you there via a set of deeply human accounts of three ordinary young Palestinian men over the past thirty years. Their lives have been riddled with oppressive military constraint, violence, humiliation, and loss. Yet along with their parents, wives, and children, they have persevered in making an honorable life for themselves. These narratives are gripping, instructive, inspiring, tragic, and universally relevant as tales of survival, endurance, and hope.

Advance Praise for No Way But Forward

“. . . [an] engaging narrative [with] stories that defy Western narratives of Palestinian youth . . . a powerful look into occupied Gaza through the lenses of three ordinary young men.”
Kirkus Reviews

“A poignant labour of empathy & dedication to truth—Tolstoyan in span, meticulously researched. It will be a classic on Gaza alongside Sara Roy’s The Gaza Strip. Historically, a priceless record of a Gazan era obliterated since Oct 7 and a worthy memorial to it.”
WALID KHALIDI, author of From Haven to Conquest

“. . . a work of immense beauty and humanity. . . an invaluable and much needed contribution . . . absolutely essential . . .”
SARA ROY, Harvard University, author of The Gaza Strip

“Barber carefully excavates and weaves together a narrative of life, of dreams and hopes, of love and humanity, as he traces three families making lives for themselves in the Gaza Strip, under the most oppressive of regimes. We become one with them.”
TAREQ BACONI, author of Hamas Contained

“A heart-rending and powerful book. Professor Brian Barber opens our eyes and hearts to the grim realities of the life – and death – of Gazans, describing with great sensitivity their upbringings, strivings, successes, failures, and tragedies under Israeli oppression.”
JEFFREY SACHS, author of The End of Poverty

“Barber’s methodical and beautiful work [is] not a lecture, or a book focused on the political issues – it is about humanity, how it continues to grow, how people actually live . . . an urgent, vital, and precious work that needs to be read by as many people as possible.”
JANINIE DI GIOVANNI, CEO, The Reckoning Project

“. . . a remarkable achievement . . . Brian Barber reveals how we continue to survive; he shows our happiness, our sorrow, and what we dream. Overall this book underscores the need for justice, dignity, and peace . . . and it demonstrates that sometimes humanity fails to insist on these for everyone.”
YASSER ABU JAMEI, Director General, Gaza Community Mental Health Programme

“[a] tour de force. . . a testament to the humanity, kindness, tenacity and decency of a people who have over the years been so thoroughly demonized . . .”
NANCY MURRAY, Gaza Mental Health Foundation

“Barber writes with a sensitive understanding of Gazan life, politics, and culture . . . an antidote to prejudice . . .”
ALICE ROTHCHILD, author of Condition Critical

“No Way but Forward attests to the resilience of the human spirit . . . The world must see this book, and the sooner the better. It grabbed me and hasn’t let go.”
HAROLD D. GROTEVANT, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Featured Research on Palestine

Whither the “Children of the Stone”: An entire life under occupation

In this journal article, Brian K. Barber and co-authors summarize a uniquely thorough study of the first generation of Palestinians to have lived the whole of their lives under occupation. Findings from group interviews and large, representative surveys of from the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip in 2011 draw a complex portrait of day-to-day life.

Identifying mental suffering in context: Feeling broken or destroyed

In this mixed-methods study, Brian K. Barber and co-authors identified and then developed and validated a quantitative measure of a new construct of mental suffering in the occupied Palesntinian territory: feeling broken or destroyed. Feeling broken or destroyed can be reliably measured and distinguished from conventional measures of mental health.

Recent Commentary

Gaza Interrupted

Education: A Major Casualty of the Gaza Assault

ALL COMMENTARY

Books by Brian K. Barber

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    Adolescents and War

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    Intrusive Parenting

Brian K. Barber, PhD is Professor Emeritus, University of Tennessee. He currently lives in Washington, DC. His work has addressed how context—from parenting to political systems—impact individual and social development. Among other books, he is editor of Intrusive Parenting: How Psychological Control Affects Children and Adolescents (2002, American Psychological Association), and Adolescents and War: How Youth Deal with Political Conflict (2008, Oxford University Press).

Professor Barber’s most recent book is No Way but Forward: Life Stories of Three Families in the Gaza Strip. (Forthcoming December, 2024, KDP Press).

His published articles have appeared in, among others, The Lancet, Social Science & Medicine, Global Public Health, PLOS ONE, Child Development, International Journal of Behavioral Development, and Journal of Adolescent Research. His commentaries have been published in Haaretz, CNN, Informed Comment, Counterpunch, Middle East Policy Council, Jadaliyya, and Open Democracy.

Since retirement, Brian has developed an interest in photography. An expedition to the Arctic with National Geographic inspired his interest in photographing wildlife, particularly birds.