Gaza: The Dream and the Nightmare — A Book Talk with Julie Norman

Books will be sold by the Mason Bookstore as well as a book signing will follow the event.

In this urgent and compelling book, Julie M. Norman and Maia Carter Hallward tell the story of Gaza from its early foundations, across decades of occupation, to the horrors of October 7 and the subsequent devastating war. Rather than focusing on elites or abstract politics, at the book’s heart are ordinary Gazans -- students, aid workers, journalists, and teachers -- whose first-hand testimonies vividly illuminate the realities behind the headlines.

Refusing to sensationalise or oversimplify, the book reckons with the legal, moral, and humanitarian debates surrounding Gaza, from war crimes investigations to the contested meaning of resistance and the politicization of aid. Combining a nuanced narrative with hard-hitting reflections from everyday Gazans, the book serves as a timely and necessary disruption of media clichés and political binaries, telling the story of Gaza with clarity, compassion, and from the perspective of its own people.

Dr Julie Norman is an Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations at University College London (UCL), the Director of UCL’s Israel-Palestine Initiative, and an Associate Fellow at Chatham House. She is the author of Gaza: The Dream and the Nightmare and many other books and articles on Palestine/Israel and international conflict, and she is a frequent commentator on the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera and other media outlets.