Tolan weaves together two tales of heroism and courage: In the late 1980s, a boy from an impoverished West Bank refugee family fights to realize his dream of making music and sharing its liberating beauty, and a conquered community wages a largely nonviolent campaign for freedom and independence. But over the years, the story arcs diverge as the boy triumphs over monumental obstacles to realize his vision, while the community runs up against the overwhelming force of its occupiers and the bitter betrayals of its externally-based “representatives.” The book is thus both an inspiring account of personal resilience and a requiem for the “two-state solution.”