Explains the construction of the Syrian state over the last 100 years and decodes the events of the current crisis.

From a Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist specializing in the Middle East, this groundbreaking account of the Syrian Civil War reveals the never-before-published true story of a 21st-century humanitarian disaster. In spring 2011, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad turned to his friend and army commander, Manaf Tlass, for advice about how to respond to Arab Spring-inspired protests. Tlass pushed for conciliation but Assad decided to crush the uprising -- an act which would catapult the country into an eight-year long war, killing almost half a million and fueling terrorism and a global refugee crisis. Assad or We Burn the Country examines Syria's tragedy through the generational saga of the Assad and Tlass families, once deeply intertwined and now estranged in Bashar's bloody quest to preserve his father's inheritance. By drawing on his own reporting experience in Damascus and exclusive interviews with Tlass, Dagher takes readers within palace walls to reveal the family behind the destruction of a country and the chaos of an entire region. Dagher shows how one of the world's most vicious police states came to be and explains how a regional conflict extended globally, engulfing the Middle East and pitting the United States and Russia against one another. Timely, propulsive, and expertly reported, Assad or We Burn the Country is the definitive account of this global crisis, going far beyond the news story that has dominated headlines for years.

LONG-LISTED FOR THE CARNEGIE MEDAL Reminiscent of the work of Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich, an astonishing collection of intimate wartime testimonies and poetic fragments from a cross-section of Syrians whose lives have been transformed by revolution, war, and flight. Against the backdrop of the wave of demonstrations known as the Arab Spring, in 2011 hundreds of thousands of Syrians took to the streets demanding freedom, democracy and human rights. The government’s ferocious response, and the refusal of the demonstrators to back down, sparked a brutal civil war that over the past five years has escalated into the worst humanitarian catastrophe of our times. Yet despite all the reporting, the video, and the wrenching photography, the stories of ordinary Syrians remain unheard, while the stories told about them have been distorted by broad brush dread and political expediency. This fierce and poignant collection changes that. Based on interviews with hundreds of displaced Syrians conducted over four years across the Middle East and Europe, We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled is a breathtaking mosaic of first-hand testimonials from the frontlines. Some of the testimonies are several pages long, eloquent narratives that could stand alone as short stories; others are only a few sentences, poetic and aphoristic. Together, they cohere into an unforgettable chronicle that is not only a testament to the power of storytelling but to the strength of those who face darkness with hope, courage, and moral conviction.

In Tiger and Clay: Syria Fragments, Rana Abdulfattah mixes poetry and prose to present her experiences of exile, love and loss in Istanbul. Abdulfattah, originally from Syria, speaks about her life in Istanbul since the start of the war in Syria. In the process, she offers an intimate insight into what it means to watch the destruction and war from afar; an insight tinged with the inescapable change that war brings. Humanitarianism, NGOs, and the bureaucracy of legality all meet within the pages of the book as she faces them in her daily life. Istanbul in its mosques, cats and historical streets takes prime place as Abdulfattah manages to convey her love for this city that has become her home. Love and longing are intertwined throughout the book as she struggles with love lost and another regained. The book is ultimately a testament to human resilience. "If the title of Tiger and Clay - Syria Fragments is a metaphorical conundrum, it isn't difficult to find the simplicity in its complexity. You can't be human without the synthesis of both tiger and clay, and surely, you can't act in the world without the fire of the tiger. Tiger and clay together animate the imagination and creative spirit of Rana Abdulfattah's journey out of exile and into human being-ness," Sandra Fluck the author of Evening Muse and Longitudes at Daybreak. "Beautiful and important, these vignettes are lush in language, taking you on a journey, not just between Syria and Turkey, but between personal and political, communal and individual, the intimate and collective. We are pulled into a labyrinth of thoughts, lead through with wonderful images, delightful word associations, accomplished word plays. Timely, fresh and surprising. Dive in and enjoy!" Olumide Popoola author of Breach. "The book is a young woman's meditation on becoming: rejecting stereotypes and fighting off her own feelings of panic and insecurity as she loses first her homeland and the love of her life and somehow dares to live on, accommodating an always-changing situation," Malu Halasa author of Syria Speaks-Art and Culture from The Frontline. Biography: An avid lover of coffee, cats and Istanbul, Rana Abdulfattah is from Damascus and currently lives in Istanbul. Tiger and Clay is her first book, but she has written poetry and prose for several years.

The remarkable story of a small, makeshift library in the town of Daraya, and the people who found hope and humanity in its books during a four-year siege. Daraya lies on the fringe of Damascus, just southwest of the Syrian capital. Yet for four years it lived in another world. Besieged by government forces early in the Syrian Civil War, its people were deprived of food, bombarded by heavy artillery, and under the constant fire of snipers. But deep beneath this scene of frightening devastation lay a hidden library. While the streets above echoed with shelling and rifle fire, the secret world below was a haven of books. Long rows of well-thumbed volumes lined almost every wall: bloated editions with grand leather covers, pocket-sized guides to Syrian poetry, and no-nonsense reference books, all arranged in well-ordered lines. But this precious horde was not bought from publishers or loaned by other libraries--they were the books salvaged and scavenged at great personal risk from the doomed city above. The story of this extraordinary place and the people who found purpose and refuge in it is one of hope, human resilience, and above all, the timeless, universal love of literature and the compassion and wisdom it fosters.