Today Syria is a country known for all the wrong reasons: civil war, vicious sectarianism, and major humanitarian crisis. But how did this once rich, multi-cultural society end up as the site of one of the twenty-first century’s most devastating and brutal conflicts?
In this incisive book, internationally renowned Syria expert David Lesch takes the reader on an illuminating journey through the last hundred years of Syrian history - from the end of the Ottoman empire through to the current civil war. The Syria he reveals is a fractured mosaic, whose identity (or lack thereof) has played a crucial part in its trajectory over the past century. Only once the complexities and challenges of Syria’s history are understood can this pivotal country in the Middle East begin to rebuild and heal.
Table of Contents
Map
Preface
Chapter One: What is Syria?
Chapter Two: World War One
Chapter Three: The French Mandate
Chapter Four: Syria Amid the Cold Wars
Chapter Five: The 1967 Arab-Israeli War
Chapter Six: Syria Under Hafiz al-Assad
Chapter Seven: Bashar al-Assad in Power
Chapter Eight: The Syrian Uprising and Civil War
Further Reading
