A Day in the Life of Abed Salama

A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy
AuthorNathan Thrall
LanguageEnglish
PublisherMacmillan Publishers
Publication date
2023
Publication placeUnited States
Pages272
ISBN9781250291530

A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy is a 2023 book by journalist Nathan Thrall, published by Macmillan. The book details a 2012 road accident involving a school bus in which several Palestinian children and a teacher were killed. The book explores how a myriad of security measures including a separation wall and military checkpoints, forced segregation in the West Bank between Israeli Settlements and Palestinians, and bureaucratic limits on Palestinian citizens' freedom of movement led to long delays in emergency care for the children, obstacles which the author argues are entirely manmade. The book follows a father (Abed Salama) of one of the boys hurt in the accident as he searches for his son (Milad).

Thrall initially reported on the accident in a 2021 piece in the New York Review of Books and expanded upon the contents of the article into the 2023 book.

The book was awarded the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-fiction and was a finalist for the Orwell Prize for political literature.