Brooke Allen and Peter Allen tell Leonard about documenting Syria before the war. (August 15, 2018)
In 2009, Peter Aaron, an architectural photographer, and Brooke Allen, author and professor, went on vacation with their children to Syria. Brooke wrote a book about their experience called “The Other Side of the Mirror: An American Travels Through Syria” (Paul Dry Books). Within 2 years of their trip, civil war broke out and many of the landmarks that Peter had photographed were damaged or destroyed. His photographs—now a precious documentation of Syria’s vanishing history and culture—are currently on exhibit at the Venice Biennale and can be seen in a new book called “Syria Before the Deluge.” In this episode of “Leonard Lopate at Large,” Brooke and Peter describe the many ways that the Syria they saw no longer exists.