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One of the few Western photographers covering the Syrian conflict for more than five years since 2012, Matthias Bruggmann crisscrossed the country meeting the different actors of this crisis. With an idea to evoke a visceral understanding, with the Western audience, of the intangible violence supporting the conflict, he makes us immerse into the complexity and the horrors of this war by multiplying the points of view.

First, the book presents a stream of explicit images where we are unable to understand who comes from which side and who is the author because Mathias Bruggmann blurs the tracks and mixes the sources. He examines the photojournalistic codes and moves the boundaries between documentary photography and artistic photography.

Then, the photographs are contextualized by very detailed captions and five essays written by independent experts: Issam Abdelrahim, Syrian journalist; Rania Abouzeid, Australian journalist of Lebanese origin, specialist of the Middle East; Mazen Bilal, Syrian journalist; Amjad Farkh, Syrian dentist, ex-member of the Free Syrian Army groups, working in the humanitarian sector; Labib Nahhas, activist in exile, ex-head of exterior relations for the Ahrar al-Sham group of Salafist rebels; Nir Rosen, American investigative journalist, Middle East expert and advisor to humanitarian organizations.