The Syrian Rebellion

by Fouad Ajami

Overview

Fouad Ajami offers a detailed historical perspective on the current rebellion in Syria. Focusing on the similarities and differences in skills between former dictator Hafez al-Assad and his successor son, Bashar, Ajami explains how an irresistible force clashed with an immovable object: the regime versus people who conquered fear to challenge a despot of unspeakable cruelty.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780817915049
Publisher:	Hoover Institution Press
Publication date:	05/01/2012
Edition description:	1
Pages:	260
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Fouad Ajami is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the cochair of the Herbert and Jane Dwight Working Group on Islamism and the International Order. From 1980 to 2011 he was director of Middle East Studies at the Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of The Arab Predicament, Beirut: City of Regrets, The Dream Palace of the Arabs, and The Foreigner's Gift. His writings also include some four hundred essays on Arab and Islamic politics, US foreign policy, and contemporary international history. Ajami has received numerous awards, including the Benjamin Franklin Award for public service (2011), the Eric Breindel Award for Excellence in Opinion Journalism (2011), the Bradley Prize (2006), the National Humanities Medal (2006), and the MacArthur Fellows Award (1982). His research has charted the road to 9/11, the Iraq war, and the US presence in the Arab-Islamic world.

Table of Contents

Foreword Charles Hill xi

Preface and Acknowledgments xvii

1 Prologue: The Inheritor 5

2 Come the Mountain People 15

3 The Time of the Founder 27

4 False Dawn 45

5 The Boys of Deraa 69

6 The Phantoms of Hama 83

7 The Truth of the Sects 111

8 Sarajevo on the Orontes 135

9 The Stalemate 157

10 Dreaming of Home: A Note on the Exiles 195

11 Fragments of a Past Mourned and Dreaded 209

Afterword 215

Source Notes 217

About the Author 227

About the Hoover Institution's Herbert and Jane Dwight Working Group on Islamism and the International Order 228

Index 229

Editorial Reviews

The recent Arab uprisings, or the Arab Spring, that began in Tunisia and spread to much of the Arab world have overthrown some of the most entrenched dictatorships and brought discomfort to hidebound monarchies in Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf Arab states. The spillover of this upheaval into Syria elicited a brutal response from the regime of Bashar Assad, leaving an uncertain future for both the Syrian regime and the opposition. In this informative book, Ajami (senior fellow, Hoover Inst.) offers an accessible account of the emergence of modern Syria, the country's volatile political landscape, and the machinations of various forces in affecting the contours of developments there today. The author does a good job of placing the Syrian turmoil in the context of the game being played by both major powers and regional actors in affecting the course of the Syrian crisis. What the book lacks is a detailed analysis of the makeup of the Syrian opposition, which includes several strains of extremist and jihadist groups and individuals who are challenging the ruling regime. VERDICT In spite of that deficiency, this is nonetheless a useful resource for both policymakers and students of the contemporary Middle East.—Nader Entessar, Univ. of Southern Alabama, Mobile

Library Journal

…Fouad Ajami weaves the threads of Syria's past with the events of the previous year to give us a portrait of the country as it hurtles toward its moment of decisive transformation. This is no small feat: Syria is a country of enormous ethnic and religious complexity, and the story is moving very fast. The Syrian Rebellion is an elegant and edifying book, written on the fly, by an observer who retains an almost loving intimacy with his subject.
—Dexter Filkins

The New York Times Book Review