A Long Way Gone,” Ishmael Beah’s harrowing 2007 memoir of his years as a child soldier in Sierra Leone’s brutal civil war, turned him into not just a best-selling author but also, for many, a potent symbol of hope. Here was someone who had emerged from years of murderous frenzy to write a memoir of not just

uncommon horror but uncommon tenderness, topped by a smiling, open-faced author photo one reviewer called “welcome and timely reassurance” of the enduring power of humanity.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/17/books/ishmael-beahs-radiance-of-tomorrow-a-novel-about-recovery.html?hpw&rref=books&_r=0