This collection supports and promotes awareness to the important mission and framework of the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Coalition's focus on the lasting power of the written word and the arts in support of the free expression of ideas, the preservation of shared cultural spaces, and the importance of responding to attacks, both overt and subtle, on artists, writers, and academics working under oppressive regimes or in zones of conflict, despite the destruction of that literary/cultural content. "A response to the tragedy of Al Mutanabbi Street through a meditation on the shape and value of books, this book also reconciles time spent at both the Nature Lab at RISD and the Providence Public Library Special Collections in Providence, RI. Thanks to Jordan Goffin, Neal Overstrom, and Rachel Atlas"--Colophon. "Amanda Thackray is a New Jersey based artist who holds an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. While she is trained in traditional and contemporary printmaking methods, her work ranges from installation and sculpture, to cast glass multiples, artists' books, drawings and mixed media works on paper"--Artist's statement from artist's website (viewed July 24, 2015).