From the John Holmes Library collection.

Hafez al-Asad (d. 2000) ruled Syria for 30 of its 55-year history as a modern state. Zisser (Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African studies, Tel Aviv U.) offers a balanced view of Asad's role in elevating Syria to a stable, major Middle East player but with a legacy of authoritarianism and struggles over succession. Includes maps of Syria's frontier with Israel and Lebanon. c. Book News Inc.

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.

Outlines twenty years of human rights abuses in Syria under the rule of President Hafez Asad, providing details of imprisonment without trial, torture, and other forms of opression.

When Basher al-Asad became President of Syria in June 2000, he had a tough act to follow. A quiet, unassuming opthalmologist, trained in Britain, young Asad was successor to his dynamic, wily father Hafiz, who had consolidated power in his ethnically diverse and politically restive state through personal charisma, brute force and political balancing acts. Now, some years after Basher's succession and with mounting international pressure for political and economical reform, his handling of the issues facing Syria raises serious questions for the future stability of the Middle East. This is the first major work on Basher al-Asad. It assesses the durability of Hafiz's legacy, including the influence of the old power-brokers, the effectiveness of Basher's attempts to move away from his father's shadow, and prospects for reform. Above all, it evaluates Basher's continuing hold on power following Syria's humiliating retreat from Lebanon in Spring 2005.

Syria entered a new phase with the death of its long-serving leader, Hafiz al-Asad, and the accession of his son Bashar in 2000. While the new president has disappointed much of the hopes for political opening which he himself has created, Syria is clearly undergoing a process of change. The author analyses the factors of economic and political change in the country, and gives a portrait of its new leadership.

"When Basher al-Asad became President of Syria in June 2000, he had a tough act to follow. A quiet, unassuming opthalmologist, trained in Britain, young Asad was successor to his dynamic, wily father Hafiz, who had consolidated power in his ethnically diverse and politically restive state through personal charisma, brute force and political balancing acts. Now, some years after Basher's succession and with mounting international pressure for political and economical reform, his handling of the issues facing Syria raises serious questions for the future stability of the Middle East. This is the first major work on Basher al-Asad. It assesses the durability of Hafiz's legacy, including the influence of the old power-brokers, the effectiveness of Basher's attempts to move away from his father's shadow, and prospects for reform. Above all, it evaluates Basher's continuing hold on power following Syria's humiliating retreat from Lebanon in Spring 2005."--Bloomsbury Publishing.