Listen to a sample
No Land to Stand On
- Author
- Mahmoud Khalil
- Narrator
- Mahmoud Khalil, Daoud Heidami
- Publisher
- Pan Macmillan
- Publish Date
- 29 September 2026
- Run Time
- 5 hours 10 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
Not available in your country
We don't have the rights to sell this audiobook where you are. If it's already in your library you can still listen to it in My Books.
What to expect
Read by the author Mahmoud Khalil and actor Daoud Heidami
A revelatory and powerful testament of protest, courage and imprisonment in America’s deportation regime.
'A searing account' – The Guardian
'A quietly shattering memoir' – New York Times
'Compelling and deeply human' – Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
'An extraordinary book that everyone should read' – Kamila Shamsie
'Already a classic of dissident literature' – Pankaj Mishra
‘Are you Mahmoud Khalil?’ With this question, ICE took the Palestinian student and US legal resident from his pregnant wife and home in New York City, transported him across the country and locked him up in a Louisiana detention camp under threat of deportation. His ‘crime’: exercising his right to free speech at Columbia University, where he emerged as a leading voice against the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. No Land to Stand On is his indelible account of becoming the target of a lawless regime shredding basic rights.
Drawing on his prison diary and writing in vivid, shocking detail, Mahmoud Khalil conjures the despair and cruelty of ICE detention, where prisoners can vanish overnight and visiting families risk their own deportation. In tandem, he tells the multigenerational story of a family expelled from Palestine to a Syrian refugee camp, of his flight from Assad’s regime to Lebanon, of arrival in an America that promised permanence and protection, and of the enduring struggle for Palestine.
An era-defining account of the cost of dissent and a work of immense courage, resistance and moral clarity, No Land to Stand On is a call to all of us to defend our right to safety, freedom and a place to call home.
'This book will light a fire under you' – Mona Chalabi
'A defining document of our age' – Peter Beinart
'A rare chance to read history as it unfolds' – Yasmin Zaher
'A tale of courage in the face of unbelievable wickedness' – Benjamin Moser
'An unflinching account of what it costs to insist on one's dignity' – susan abulhawa
Critics Review
-
A quietly shattering memoir . . . Khalil recounts in stark detail [his] terrifying experience . . . . . . a frightening, important book
The New York Times
-
A searing account of political imprisonment . . . Khalil recounts his Kafkaesque ordeal with a quiet fury
The Guardian
-
This is not a story of stoic heroism but of constant estimation (and sometimes underestimation) of risk and the decision to accept it as the price of doing the right thing in a world of despots and cowards
The New Republic
-
No Land to Stand On not only recounts, with chilling precision, an intimate experience of the free world's sinister new tyrannies, but it also describes a longer and ongoing ordeal of exile and ostracism. And yet, while troubling our consciences, Mahmoud Khalil opens our minds and hearts with his dignity, compassion and hopefulness. With its spiritual and intellectual power, his book is already a classic of dissident literature, a true peer of Nadezhda Mandelstam’s Hope Against Hope and Eugenia Ginzburg’s Journey into the Whirlwind
Pankaj Mishra, author of The World After Gaza
See more reviews See fewer reviews
-
A compelling and deeply human account of loss, longing, and resilience. Mahmoud Khalil's memoir bears witness to the human cost of capricious imprisonment on many ordinary, unseen lives . . . He reminds us that the greatest cost of imprisonment is not time itself, but the moments that can never be returned . . . This is an honest, tender witnessing. May it cross many walls
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
-
Khalil’s clear-eyed analysis, the clarity of his prose, and the strength of his character turn his devastating story into an extraordinary book that everyone should read. It is as terrifying about injustice as it is inspiring about resistance
Kamila Shamsie, Women's Prize winning author of Home Fire
-
No Land to Stand On tells the story of a brave and decent man, persecuted for opposing the genocide of his people, by a government that practices sadism and deceit. It will be remembered as one of America's most important prison memoirs, a defining document of our age
Peter Beinart, author of Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza
-
Through his vivid, urgent and beautifully written story, Mahmoud Khalil lays bare the systems of power that rob us of our freedoms -- in Palestine, Syria, the United States and around the world. This book won't depress you -- it'll light a fire under you
Mona Chalabi, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Ten Lives
-
It is impossible not to think of history reading Mahmoud Khalil. This is not a memoir -- it is an indictment. The words have been written down, the deed, the date. No one will forget; we cannot afford to
Fatima Bhutto, author of The Hour of the Wolf
-
At once achingly personal and politically urgent, No Land to Stand On explores how displacement reverberates across generations, offering a powerful testament to endurance in the face of forced statelessness
Hala Alyan, author of Pultizer Prize-finalist I'll Tell You When I'm Home
-
Mahmoud Khalil's unassuming odyssey offers a rare chance to read history as it unfolds. At once intimate and political, this iconic chronicle shows that the deepest forces behind Palestinian political action are also the most universal: love, fatherhood, and faith
Yasmin Zaher, Dylan Thomas Prize winning author of The Coin
-
An unflinching account of what it costs to insist on one's dignity . . . at once an intimate family story, an audit of America's immigration system's terrible machinery, and a document of what happens when a government tries to make an example of a man who refuses to trade freedom for survival
susan abulhawa, author of Against the Loveless World
-
Mahmoud Khalil offers a perfect contrast between the barbarity of Palestinians' oppressors and the dignity of the Palestinian people themselves. This tale of courage in the face of unbelievable wickedness shows us the impact of policies determined to uproot the freedoms that we once enjoyed -- and shows us, in the life of one man and one family, the determination of the Palestinians not to be silenced
Benjamin Moser, author of Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History
User Reviews
No reviews yet.
Details
- Author
- Mahmoud Khalil
- Narrator
- Mahmoud Khalil, Daoud Heidami
- Duration
- 5 hours 10 minutes
- Release Date
- 29 September 2026
- ISBN
- 9781037410680
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Pan Macmillan
- Genre
- Memoirs, Autobiography: historical, political and military, Refugees and political asylum
Synopsis
Read by the author Mahmoud Khalil and actor Daoud HeidamiA revelatory and powerful testament of protest, courage and imprisonment in America’s deportation regime.'A searing account' – The Guardian'A quietly shattering memoir' – New York Times'Compelling and deeply human' – Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe'An extraordinary book that everyone should read' – Kamila Shamsie'Already a classic of dissident literature' – Pankaj Mishra‘Are you Mahmoud Khalil?’ With this question, ICE took the Palestinian student and US legal resident from his pregnant wife and home in New York City, transported him across the country and locked him up in a Louisiana detention camp under threat of deportation. His ‘crime’: exercising his right to free speech at Columbia University, where he emerged as a leading voice against the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. No Land to Stand On is his indelible account of becoming the target of a lawless regime shredding basic rights.Drawing on his prison diary and writing in vivid, shocking detail, Mahmoud Khalil conjures the despair and cruelty of ICE detention, where prisoners can vanish overnight and visiting families risk their own deportation. In tandem, he tells the multigenerational story of a family expelled from Palestine to a Syrian refugee camp, of his flight from Assad’s regime to Lebanon, of arrival in an America that promised permanence and protection, and of the enduring struggle for Palestine.An era-defining account of the cost of dissent and a work of immense courage, resistance and moral clarity, No Land to Stand On is a call to all of us to defend our right to safety, freedom and a place to call home.'This book will light a fire under you' – Mona Chalabi'A defining document of our age' – Peter Beinart'A rare chance to read history as it unfolds' – Yasmin Zaher'A tale of courage in the face of unbelievable wickedness' – Benjamin Moser'An unflinching account of what it costs to insist on one's dignity' – susan abulhawa
About xigxag
xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK's only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.
There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at $13.95. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from $7.95. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.
Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.
Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.