Syria

What began as nonviolent protests against government injustice in the southern Syrian city of Dar[ah in the spring of 2011, which soon spread to other regions across the country, has devolved into a bitter, brutal, and increasingly sectarian civil war. This devolution has been in large part, though not entirely, due to the resort to military-level violence and intense repression by the Syrian government headed by President Bashar al-Asad and the Syrian Ba‘th Party. The situation on the ground is constantly shifting and, because of this, it is extremely difficult if not impossible to keep track of all the changes on a weekly and even daily basis. This difficulty is apparent in David Lesch’s new book, which was written in late 2011 and finished in early 2012. Published in the autumn of 2012, the book has already become out-of-date with regards to the ongoing civil war. However, Lesch, one of the few bona fide experts on modern Syria in North America, has produced a readable and informative account of the rise of Bashar following the death in 2000 of his father and longtime Syrian president Hafiz al-Asad, his failed attempts at systemic reform, and his descent during the country’s civil war. Lesch was once hopeful of Bashar’s early promises to reform Syrian politics and society following decades of strongman rule by his father and the Syrian Ba‘th old guard, which dominated Syria’s military, security forces, and bureaucracy. Lesch detailed Bashar’s potential in his previous book,