Understand the world,
one country and one novel at a time.


THE ALIGNIST is a cultural capsule that connects fact to fiction, delivering a literary experience to your door.

Follow the struggles of a cast of characters through a war-torn country and trace hope across the ocean in a rickety boat. Fiction offers an entry point for making sense of complex conflicts and crises, but on its own, it’s not enough to forge an informed understanding of the world. THE ALIGNIST connects novels to the news. It will deliver a work of fiction to your doorstep, along with everything you need to understand the real world social and political issues it describes. THE WHOLE STORY edition also includes authentic recipes and ethically-sourced crafts to make you feel like you’re truly transported to the setting of the novel.  

Choose from the various boxes we have on offer!

Both THE WHOLE STORY and JUST THE FACTS options offer in-depth engagement with news and history that will off a deeper connection to our wide world.

INDIA BOX 5.jpg

JUST THE FACTS

A specially-selected work of international fiction delivered to your door, along with a custom-made "roadmap" to connect the novel’s plot story to lived realities, historical insights, and key statistics to help make sense of the world in an in-depth and engaged way.

INDIA BOX 1.jpg

THE WHOLE STORY

A work of fiction, "roadmap," plus an array of ethically-sourced artisanal goods, culinary items, authentic recipes, and art objects from the featured country to create a multi-sensory experience of the featured country that also gives back to people living there.

THE NATIVE AMERICA BOX

Centered on the Cherokee Nation, this box explores issues related to Native American experience.

This edition is the first to look squarely at a community within the United States in an effort to bring forward key moments, cultural practices, and lived realities for those indigenous to this country that have been undermined and overlooked.

Centered on The Removed by Brandon Hobson, this box focuses on the experiences of the long shadow of the Trail of Tears on the experiences of a family reeling from their own personal loss. Shifting focus from mother to daughter to son and back, the novel highlights how grief is a private place further darkened by collective and ancestral trauma.

JUST THE FACTS
- A letter from THE ALIGNIST's founder
- A copy of The Removed by Brandon Hobson
-
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel

THE WHOLE STORY 
- A letter from THE ALIGNIST's founder
- A copy of The Removed by Brandon Hobson
-
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel
- A set of recipes from Cherokee Cooklore to Make My Bread
- A copy of Meditations with the Cherokee by J.T. Garrett
- A bar of artisan soap by Haipažaža Pȟežuta, Lakota and Dakota-owned company
- A tin of balm from Medicine of the People, a Navajo-owned company

THE ETHIOPIA BOX

In Beneath The Lion’s Gaze, novelist Maaza Mengiste sets a crisis that wracked her native country of Ethiopia when in the context of a single family. The story follows a violent coup that struck down an emperor who had come to have — and still does, in some ways — a mythic hold on power within the imaginations of people around the world. Each member of a multigenerational family responds to the event differently. One mourns and another rejoices, but others have more complicated feelings — an uneasiness when it comes to taking any one reactionary stance.

This edition will offer the historical underpinnings of the conflict at the center of Beneath The Lion’s Gaze and bring history up to the present, as a new violent conflict — which many now believe to be a genocide — wracks Ethiopia.

JUST THE FACTS
- A letter from THE ALIGNIST's founder

- A copy of the novel, Beneath the Lion’s Gaze

- A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel

THE WHOLE STORY 
- A letter from THE ALIGNIST's founder

- A copy of the novel, Beneath the Lion’s Gaze

- A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel

- A set of authentic Ethiopian recipes

- A fair trade necklace made by Ethiopian women from artillery shells by Fair Anita

- An ethically-sourced jar of the beloved Ethiopian berbere spice blend by the Brundo Spice Company

- An package of heirloom Kuti coffee leaf tea by the Brundo Spice Company

Allow the rich flavors of Ethiopia to sweep you away.

THE TURKEY BOX

This edition is built around a novel called 10 Minutes and 38 Seconds in this Strange World. The novel focuses on the final moments for the mind, body, and spirit of a young woman named Leila Tequila, but it also careens backward offering up the trying experiences that pushed her to flee home for Istanbul and leaps forward to include how her friends respond to her untimely death.

In laying out the story of her life and the experiences of her friends, the novelist Elif Shafak unpacks the grim realities faced by women in Turkey. It will explore the unseemly dark side that is not often seen by tourists to Istanbul. It explores the ties that break and the ties that bind through a tale that is both tragic and brave. Along the way, readers will get a tour of the striking geography of Istanbul and a guide to its startling history.

JUST THE FACTS
- A letter from THE ALIGNIST's founder

- A copy of 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World

- A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel

THE WHOLE STORY 
A letter from THE ALIGNIST's founder

- A copy of 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World

- A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel

- A set of authentic Turkish recipes

- An ethically-sourced evil-eye talisman for the home

- A jar of fig jam made from dried figs from one of Turkey’s oldest dried fruit exporters

- A bar of fair-trade hand-milled soap made in Istanbul

Flip through the pages of history to inform your understanding of the present.

THE INDONESIA BOX

arto-marttinen-HrBCuCezGqE-unsplash.jpg

This box brings you a greater understanding of the culture of the incredibly diverse archipelago as well as its painful past under dictatorial rule. Comprised of 17,508 islands, Indonesia is the world’s largest archipeligo. Home, the specially-selected novel included in the INDONESIA box begins with a view of them through the longing gaze of Dimas Suryo, a journalist who has been forced into exile after a failed coup, moving through time and place to account for a brutal history that few have dared to write about. 

The novel is written in a familiar tone, oscillating between Dimas’ experiences in Indonesia and his memories of the country, before passing the narrative along to those close to him. Through his friends and family, readers come to appreciate the deep cavern created by a government crackdown, and what it takes to break the hushed silence that has come to surround it.

JUST THE FACTS
- A letter from THE ALIGNIST's founder
- A copy of Home by Leila Chudori
-
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel

THE WHOLE STORY 
- A letter from THE ALIGNIST's founder
- A copy of Home by Leila Chudori
-
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel
- Authentic vegetarian Indonesian recipes
- A fair trade, handmade colorful strand of seashells from Fair Winds Fair Trade
- A fair trade, handmade a book mark from Mitra Bali
- A fair trade, hand-made, batik-print face mask form Gadabout Goods

Indonesia-6.jpg

Get a taste for Indonesia’s diverse culture and cuisine.

gabeng-kusuma-RSjkkCdK5KY-unsplash.jpg
1.png

THE PERU BOX

haiti_meghan_dhaliwal.png

This edition’s selected novel, Red April by Santiago Roncagliolo, provides an unflinching look at a chapter in the story of Peru that is often overlooked by tourists and avoided by Peruvians. It takes place in the waning days of the Shining Path’s reign of terror. While it does not spare readers from the sort of grisly acts committed by that militant group or the military personnel who sought to extinguish its influence, it is propelled forward by an affable main character who is diligently trying to do his job amidst it all. The novel gives us many footholds to understand not only the seemingly incomprehensible actions of the Shining Path, but also indigenous beliefs, and historical figures.

Each of the items in the box are fair-trade and originated in Peru, a country which has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and political instability.

ROADMAP PERU V1.png
roadmap_haiti_13

JUST THE FACTS
- A letter from THE ALIGNIST's founder
- A copy of Red April
-
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel

THE WHOLE STORY 
- A letter from THE ALIGNIST's founder
- A copy of Red April
-
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel
- A set of recipes featuring Peruvian staples
- A fairetrade handmade bracelet by Ali Paku
- A fairetrade bag of ground coffee from Reveille Trading Company
- A fairetrade pin and ceramic bead by Tesoros Trading Company

Peru-6.jpg

Learn about Peruvian history, both ancient and recent.

adrian-dascal-MA-PJgsOhNo-unsplash.jpg
joe-green-nsy6zTjk5hM-unsplash.jpg

THE SOUTH AFRICA BOX

What happens to the revolutionary after the revolution? In Nadine Gordimer’s No Time Like The Present, an interracial couple who fought to overthrow Apartheid buy a house in the suburbs and have a couple of kids. The novel follows them as they struggle to bring the beliefs they were willing to die for into their everyday lives. 

This box explores the long aftermath of revolution through the story of a single family that straddles what was once an impossible divide between people. It also includes the flavors and culture of South Africa in delicious recipes and fair trade spices and sauces. You won’t want to miss this box!

A613A139-AE99-44AB-9B9C-A5EFDFF792BD.jpg
3.png
SOUTH AFRICA ROADMAP v3.png

THE HAITI BOX

Hotel Ollofson in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Image by Meghan Dhaliwal.

Hotel Ollofson in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Image by Meghan Dhaliwal.

At a time when so many in the United States are calling for a renewed a reckoning with the slavery and oppression that have marked this country, it’s been interesting for me to reflect on its connections to Haiti. The histories of the two are deeply interwoven, and unraveling their connections offers insight into how frayed the rope of justice has become and what has weakened its hold. The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat is the perfect book to take up this examination since it travels back and forth between the two countries and carries the pain of one place along with it to the other. 

The novel follows a slate of characters who have been touched by the torment of the Duvalier dictatorships. Some of them faced further threat upon arrival in their new land, struggling to find work, to learn a new language, and to stay safe amidst the hard realities of life as black immigrants in America.

The HAITI box featuresThe Dew Breaker, a custom-made ROADMAP, and more will guide you through the history of oppression in Haiti, its success as the only country to be born of a slave revolt, and how both connect to the United States.

roadmap_haiti page 1
roadmap_haiti_13

JUST THE FACTS
- A letter from THE ALIGNIST's founder
- A copy of The Dew Breaker
-
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel

THE WHOLE STORY 
- A letter from THE ALIGNIST's founder
- A copy of The Dew Breaker
-
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel
- An ethically-sourced organic pikliz (Haitian relish)
- A fair trade, hand-made heart ornament
- A fair trade, hand-made bird ornament

Haiti-13 (1).jpg

Learn about the many unique religious traditions of Haiti.

The inside of a Vodou peristil, or temple, in Haiti. Image by Meghan Dhaliwal.

The inside of a Vodou peristil, or temple, in Haiti. Image by Meghan Dhaliwal.

An image from a Rara fete through the streets of rural Haiti. Image by Meghan Dhaliwal.

An image from a Rara fete through the streets of rural Haiti. Image by Meghan Dhaliwal.

THE THAILAND BOX

Thailand-15.jpg

For years, Bangkok has been the most visited city in the world. In 2019, it saw a whopping 22  million visitors. The canals that crosshatch the city offer a sense of what came before all the skyscrapers and highways. But during the rainy season, they flood, providing an ominous sense of what the “Venice of the East” might look like in the not-too-distant  future. Indeed, those who flock to Bangkok may well be motivated by the ominous drive to see a city that is sinking deeper as the sea rises up around it before it's too late. 

Spanning centuries, Bangkok Wakes to Rain accounts for all that has changed and all that might come to be, following some of the earliest visitors to the city as well as longtime residents who have to roll up their pant legs and grapple with the impact of climate change. The novel also offers an intimate look at the often-overlooked history of Thailand and an eerie view into the coronavirus pandemic.

Want to learn more? Order the THAILAND box, while supplies last!

3.png
4.png
thai_temples.jpg

JUST THE FACTS
- A letter for THE ALIGNIST founder
- A copy of Bangkok Wakes to Rain
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel

THE WHOLE STORY 
- A letter from THE ALIGNIST's founder
- A copy of Bangkok Wakes to Rain
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel
- A series of recipes featuring Thai comfort foods
- A packet of fair trade Thai green tea from Arbor Teas
- A pair of fair trade pouches made by Thai Tribal Crafts
- An invitation to a live online event featuring an author Q&A, food demo, and musical performance

thai street food.png

THE AFGHANISTAN BOX

The War in Afghanistan began 18 years ago. More than 775,000 American troops served in Afghanistan, and 2,400 lost their lives due to the war. At the same time, more than 32,000 Afghan civilians have been killed with last year being the deadliest with more than 3,800 civilian casualties. 

Amidst the calamities of war, a generation of women have experienced an expansion of their rights. Now, as the government of Afghanistan engages the Taliban in peace talks to bring an end to the war, many women worry about what life with hardliners calling the shots will mean for them. But for some, especially those in the country’s remote areas, life has remained difficult. Millions of women have been trapped between airstrikes from above and abuse at home. Our next box will take us to the one such village where the landscape has been shaped by a violence that’s carried in to all aspects of her life. 

Want to learn more? Order the AFGHANISTAN box. Supplies are limited, so act fast!

3.png
4.png
afghanistan_box_alignist.jpg

JUST THE FACTS
- A letter for THE ALIGNIST founder
- A copy of A House Without Windows
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel

THE WHOLE STORY 
- A letter from THE ALIGNIST's founder
- A copy of A House Without Windows
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel
- A series of recipes featuring Afghan family recipes
- An ethically-sourced organic spice blend from Rumi Spice
- A set of fair-trade stone earrings made by survivors of domestic violence in Kabul
- A hand-embroidered medallion

3.jpg
afghan.png
ROADMAP AFGHANISTAN - FINAL2.png

THE RWANDA BOX

rwanda.png

In less than 100 days, more than 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda because of their ethnic identities. 25 years later, THE ALIGNIST will look back on the atrocities leading up to the Rwandan genocide. This box will unpack how society came to be so divided that neighbors turned against neighbors; an important topic as we deal with mounting divisiveness in our own society.

Although such atrocity is a painful topic to consider, the featured novel is told through the perspective of young girls, and filled with much more than ethnic strife alone: boy trouble and social anxiety, disdain for school lunches and the joy of expeditions into nature.

The ROADMAP will guide you through the making of an independent Rwanda and all that has transpired since. THE WHOLE STORY subscribers will also receive a variety of ethically-sourced items. We’ll hear from the author, experts, and see performers from Rwanda, watch our live event at The Greene Space in New York City.

We still have a limited supply of our RWANDA boxes. Order one today!

3.png

JUST THE FACTS

- A letter from THE ALIGNIST's founder
- A copy of Our Lady of the Nile
-
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel

THE WHOLE STORY

- A letter from THE ALIGNIST's founder
- A copy of Our Lady of the Nile
-
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel
- A series of recipes featuring Rwandan Chef Ramadhan Sindayigaya
- An 8 ounce package of fair trade coffee from Rwanda Bean Company
- A fair trade shopper bag handmade with recycled materials by Rwandan women through Aziza Life
- A fair trade natural fiber headband handmade with recycled materials by Rwandan women through Aziza Life

1.jpg
4.png
gorilla.png
10.jpg
Rwanda alignist-7.jpg

THE COLOMBIA BOX

Colombia has become one of the world’s fastest-growing tourist destinations with the number of visitors tripling in the last 10 years. No longer characterized by drug wars, mafioso-run streets, and guerilla violence, enterprising locals are cashing in on the country’s sordid history through tours showcasing the very spots many once feared.

The protagonist of The Sound of Things Falling is navigating that same terrain with his own personal connection to that history pulling him back into the Colombia of before — and drawing us, his readers, to connect what was to what is so in a way reminiscent of William Faulkner’s arresting line: “The past is never dead. It's not even past.”

The COLOMBIA box featuring, The Sound of Things Falling, a custom-made ROADMAP, and more will guide you through the longstanding impact of war on a country and the people who are forced to flee it. This is also the first box to be featured in a new series of live events at The Greene Space in New York City.

You can still order the COLOMBIA box! But hurry, supplies are limited!

5.png
10.png

JUST THE FACTS
- A letter for THE ALIGNIST founder
- A copy of The Sound of Things Falling
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel

THE WHOLE STORY 
- A letter from THE ALIGNIST's founder
- A copy of Monkey Bridge
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel
- A series of recipes featuring rich, Colombian flavors
- A sample of fair trade organic dried goldenberries from Level Ground Trading
- A fair trade handmade bracelet
- A bar of chocolate produced by Original Beans made from rare, white cacao beans farmed by an indigenous people’s collective. Original Beans revives or plants a tree for each bar of chocolate sold.
- An author and expert Q&A plus Colombian performers live at The Greene Space

Colombia-5.jpg

Haven’t traveled to Colombia yet? Transport yourself through taste.

Colombia Recipes.png

THE EGYPT BOX

A quarter million Egyptians protested in Tahrir Square in the early days of 2011. So many that it seemed their sheer mass alone changed the course of history and  countered the weight of decades of a military dictatorship. The world watched, expectant. But as the cameras panned over the expanse of protesters, some of the details were lost. How could we see the many injustices and hundreds of sleights each protester had suffered to draw them to that space? We would never see the many sacrifices and fears that had to be overcome to stand their ground in the face of oppression. 

In Cigarette Number Seven, this edition’s featured novel, Donia Kamal offers individual portraits drawn from the teeming panorama of resistance. Through the experiences of a young skeptic turned activist, we see the years of inequity, the intergenerational experience of wrong as the force for change. The novel explores the turning tide from the inside. In meeting Nadia and other protesters, we see clearly what it took to not just shift the course of history, but also the personal shift required to believe that a change could come. The power of the square, as Kamal writes, is that it offered what was needed to believe.

This edition will take you through the experience of being in throngs of protest after decades of repression and its ROADMAP will guide you through what happened after the historic moment of change so many had longed for was finally realized.

Want to learn about the historical, political, and social life of Egypt? Order the EGYPT box. Supplies are limited, so act fast!

Egypt Recipes (1).png
Egypt Recipes (2).png

 JUST THE FACTS
- A letter for THE ALIGNIST founder
- A copy of Cigarette Number Seven
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel

THE WHOLE STORY 
- A letter from THE ALIGNIST's founder
- A copy of Cigarette Number Seven
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel
- A series of recipes featuring Egyptian favorites by cookbook author Dyna Eldaief
- A pouch of organic dukkah spice
- A pure Egyptian cotton dishtowel made through Egypt Fair Trade, a nonprofit protecting local crafts
- A vial of soft Egyptian musk

egypt-7.jpg
EGYPT ROADMAP - v2.png
EGYPT ROADMAP - v2 (1).png

THE VIETNAM BOX

vietnam image.png

A monkey bridge is an unsteady crossing of ropes and bamboo strung from one bank to another across a river. Called cầu khỉ in Vietnamese, this bit of humble infrastructure not only represents a facet of life in the Mekong Delta, but it also comes to symbolize the perpetual in between that is so much a part of the nature of immigration. While Monkey Bridge by Lan Cao is not set in Vietnam, it returns to its countryside in memory and comes to life in the durian fruits and lemongrass stalks imported as reminders of home by a community of 
refugees and rememberers.

The novel follows a mother who relives her past in private and a daughter who learns how far she can feel from a woman with whom she shares a home and a bloodline...but not quite a life. The book takes us to many bewildering inbetweens, where so much is unsteady, so much beckons and so much pulls us back. For those who lived through the Vietnam War and it’s painful images and nightly bulletins, this 
novel offers the other side of the story. One of a family torn apart by conflict so devastating it has all but turned its members into strangers to one another.

The VIETNAM box featuring, Monkey Bridge, a custom-made ROADMAP, and more will guide you through the longstanding impact of war on a country and the people who are forced to flee it.

roadmap page 1
vietnam roadmap 7

JUST THE FACTS
- A letter for THE ALIGNIST founder
- A copy of Monkey Bridge
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel

THE WHOLE STORY 
- A letter from THE ALIGNIST's founder
- A copy of Monkey Bridge
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel
- A series of recipes featuring Vietnamese comfort foods
- A sample of fair trade organic Vietnamese tea from Arbor Teas
- A handwoven bamboo coaster
- A fair trade, hand-painted ceramic tea mug made in Bat Trang, a small village on the Red River
- A fair trade bird ornament made by hand from recycled paper
- A coin purse made from from recycled plastic

Vietnam-2.jpg

Learn to make traditional Vietnamese dishes at home.

Vietnam Recipes.png

THE NIGERIA BOX

niger_delta_alignist.jpg

Nigeria is one of the top 15 oil-producing countries in the world. Oil accounts for the vast majority of the country's government revenue and has earned billions for a few. And yet, Nigeria is home to more impoverished people than any other country— and was ranked dead last for its “commitment to reducing inequality” in a list compiled by international development organizations last year. 

Oil on Water dives deep into the divide between those who reap the spoils and those who live in the spills. Through the story of single woman’s kidnapping, Helon Habila unspools a story of how oil has held so many hostage in Nigeria.

This edition’s custom-made ROADMAP will guide you through the fraught history of oil production, as it plays out on ancestral lands and leaves behind only the fumes of new wealth for most people. As with any buried treasure, oil can be both a blessing and a curse.

nigeria_roadmap_4.jpg
nigeria_roadmap_5.jpg
Nigeria-1.jpg

JUST THE FACTS
- A letter for THE ALIGNIST founder
- A copy of Oil on Water
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel

THE WHOLE STORY 
- A letter from THE ALIGNIST's founder
- A copy of Oil on Water
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel
- A series of recipes featuring Nigerian classics
- A bar of fair trade dark chocolate from Endangered Species Chocolate
- A bracelet made from recycled flip flops in a Nigerian village
- A brass coin once used as currency in the Niger Delta
- A bar of menthe-scented Nigerian African black soap from Shea Terra Organics
- Greeting cards featuring patterns on traditional Nigerian kente cloths

nigeria_schoolgirls.JPG

UNDERSTAND LIFE AMIDST MILITANTS IS LIKE IN NIGERIA

The militant organization Boko Haram sent shockwaves around the world when it kidnapped more than 270 girls from a school in northern Nigeria. Despite widespread condemnation and an appeal to to #bringbackourgirls, they're still at it, having abducted more than 110 girls in February 2018. Oil on Water focuses on the very different response to the kidnapping of the wife of a British oil executive. The novel, written by a former journalist, offers a sense of what it's like for people to live amidst militants in rural Nigeria.

Nigerian Recipe 3.png
jollof rice.jpg
 
 

THE SYRIA BOX

syria_website.jpg

The news out of Syria has been a constant barrage of horror. To understand the conflict, it’s necessary to know what prompted it. The uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad followed years of oppression. 

In No Knives of the Kitchens of this City, Khaled Khalifa shows just how meaning was stripped from the lives of ordinary people in big and small ways. The work is as much an ode to the wonders of Khalifa’s home city of Aleppo as it is as a recounting of how an authoritarian
regime can slip into so many facets of one’s existence.

The English translation of the novel was published in late 2016, just as a four year long struggle between Syrian rebels and the Assad regime in Aleppo was entering its last grueling months. Despite watching his hometown bend and break under a brutal bombing campaign and all out siege, Khalifa maintained faith in the city which has watched over so many centuries of human civilization and human destruction. 

“Aleppo will not die,” Khalifa has said, “because it cannot die. Aleppo will rise again and return, better than it was.”

The SYRIA box has been restocked after popular demand, but supplies are limited. Order yours today!

syria_recipe_alignist
beet_spread.jpg

Support Syrian families through handmade items.

syria_alignist
karam_foundation_soap.jpg

JUST THE FACTS
- A letter for THE ALIGNIST founder
- A copy of No Knives in the Kitchens of this City
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel

THE WHOLE STORY 
- A letter from THE ALIGNIST's founder
- A copy of No Knives in the Kitchens of this City
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel
- A series of recipes featuring Aleppan specialities by Anissa Helou
- A notebook made by Syrian refugee women in Lebanon from Fajr Beirut
- A bar of Aleppo soap made in Syria through the Karam Foundation
- A box of zaatar seasoning from Spicely Organics
- A postcard from the Ana Collective

3.jpg
4.jpg

Understand the complexities of conflict through a deeply personal work of fiction.

A scene of destruction in Aleppo after it was hit by government airstrikes in 2014. Image by Patrick Hilsman.

A scene of destruction in Aleppo after it was hit by government airstrikes in 2014. Image by Patrick Hilsman.

 
 

THE INDIA BOX

yellow_door.jpg

Mark Twain called India “the one land that all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of all the rest of the globe combined.” Something about traveling to India makes one feel more like a seeker than a tourist. There’s so often a longing involved whether it be for a look at the Taj Mahal, that mausoleum of love, or for the seemingly singular solace of sun salutations performed in a hilltop ashram.

The Association of Small Bombs is about a different facet of the massive, diamond-shaped nation. It takes as its subject the sort of violence that shakes a city, captures headlines, elicits political furor -- and then recedes to memory. Karan Mahajan captures the privacy of lingering pain in a city of millions where voices and whispers of family members are never far. He offers us a look into the lives of those impacted by a bombing and shows how trauma doesn’t die when the cameras turn away, or the headlines fade to black.

In other words, The Association of Small Bombs begins when the news ends. And it shines a light on parts of India that enlightenment seekers may ignore: class anxiety, interfaith vitriol, and political corruption. The ROADMAP included in this box will guide you through these issues, underpinning this deeply moving story of loss with ground realities that are the foundation for life in India.

INDIA BOX 1.jpg

Each INDIA box contains an assortment of items to support your literary journey.

JUST THE FACTS
- A letter for THE ALIGNIST founder
- A copy of The Association of Small Bombs
-
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel
- An invitation to a live Q&A with Karan Mahajan, the novel's author, and South Asia expert Bilal Baloch

THE WHOLE STORY 
- A letter from THE ALIGNIST's founder
- A copy of The Association of Small Bombs
-
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel
- An invitation to a live Q&A with the author Karan Mahajan and South Asia expert Bilal Baloch
- A series of recipes from Delhi by Rano Singh of Pansaari
- An artbook about the gender connotations of saris from Studio Kohl
- A foldable rickshaw
- A raakhi bracelet
- A packet of fair trade masala chai from Vahdam Tea
- Two pop-art style fair-trade coasters from Tesoros Trading Company

Connect fact to fiction to fiction with our signature ROADMAP.

1.png
2.png

Sample the foods the main characters are likely to eat.

chaat.jpg
chaat_2.jpg
3.jpg
 
 

THE MEXICO BOX

mexico_box_door.jpg

THE ALIGNIST's first featured novel, Prayers for the Stolen, follows a young girl named Ladydi (after the late, great princess of course) as she navigates a landscape swarming with drug cartels and human traffickers. As she comes of age, she comes into contact with some of the most brutal realities of life in Mexico — from the underground world of drug cartels to a town of children growing up with migrant fathers. 

Her experiences may well be those of many currently living in Guerrero, the part of Mexico she calls home, now, perhaps, even more so than when the book was written. Three years after the disappearance of 43 students from a bus in Guerrero in 2014 made headlines, the state, which is one of the primary suppliers of the United State’s increasing demand for opioids, has became one of Mexico’s most violent. The Guardian has reported that morgues were so inundated by dead bodies that workers walked off the job, overwhelmed by the scent of decay.

Based on extensive research, Prayers for the Stolen presents a deeply human portrait of life in a country that has seen a confounding boom in both tourism and homicides in recent years. It offers a sense of life beyond resort towns — and a portrait of what they might become if the power of cartels isn't checked. 

mexico_alignist

JUST THE FACTS
- A letter for THE ALIGNIST founder
- A copy of Prayers for the Stolen
- A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel
- An invitation to a live Q&A with Jennifer Clement, the novel's author, and ProPublica reporter Ginger Thompson

cactus_tin.jpg

THE WHOLE STORY 
- A letter from THE ALIGNIST's founder
- A copy of Prayers for the Stolen
-
A specially designed ROADMAP to guide you through the novel
- An invitation to a live Q&A with Jennifer Clement, the novel's author, and ProPublica reporter Ginger Thompson
- A series of recipes from Guerrero by Barbara Sibley of La Cocina Mexicana
- A set of temporary tattoos by Mexico City-based artist Manual Cetina
- A tapestry featuring the Virgin of Guadeloupe
- A box of fair trade Mexican oregano from Spicely Organics
- A fair tradeDay of the Dead figurine from Tesoros Trading Company
- A fair trade cactus tin ornament from Tesoros Trading Company
- An assortment of confections from Mexico including peanut marzipan, tamarind candy, and a stone-ground chocolate disk

mexico_box_food2.jpg

Get a taste of Guerrero.

mexico_box_tacos.jpg
mexico_box_beach.jpg
the_alignist_mexicorecipe1
2.png

Delve into the realities tourists never see with THE ALIGNIST's signature ROADMAP. 

mexico_roadmap_10
mexico_roadmap11