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August 2016 Vol. 53 No. 12

This is the best book yet interpreting the tragedies that have befallen Syria since the outbreak of civil war in 2011.  It proffers the best coverage of the war by two Syrian scholars and journalists who have participated in it.  They describe the increasingly oppressive government of President Bashar al-Assad before the war.  They also analyze the inability of the secular nationalists to offer meaningful opposition due to societal, class, sectarian, religious, and geographical differences.  This allowed the Assad regime to manipulate differences to the extent that it tolerated jihadists forces—al-Qaeda, the Islamic (ISIL) State, al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham—to become dominant forces that brought intervention by the US-led coalition against ISIL and, by September 2015, Russia.  Meanwhile, 8 million Syrians were displaced, 4.2 million fled to other countries, and 300,000 died.  Worse, large swaths of many cities were destroyed.  It is estimated that is will cost $300 to $500 billion, and two generations, to rebuild Syria.  This may mean the end of the historic Syria established after World War I.  Syria is, indeed, “a burning country,” and it will continue to burn.  Samer N. Abboud’s Syria (CH, Jun'16, 53-4561) is a good companion to this book.

--R. W. Olson, University of Kentucky

Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty.