Syria: A Modern History

A landmark new history of Syria—a country forged in conflict, cursed by civil war and dictatorship, and pivotal to the future of the Middle East

“A masterful history of Syria that is both sweeping in scope and brimming with vivid detail...a riveting and insightful book.” —Wendy Pearlman, author of We Crossed A Bridge and It Trembled

Modern Syria has seen violence, repression, and autocracy, suffering through tragedy after tragedy over the past century. Yet the history of Syria is not just a tale of dictators and generals. From the 1800s to the 2020s, the Syrian people have engaged in a passionate struggle for justice, equality, and a better future.

Whether fighting for national independence from French colonial rule, battling local landowning elites to share the country’s wealth, or rising up against the Assad regime, the Syrian people have fiercely clung to their right to live with respect and dignity. Theirs is a story of protest and perseverance in the long fight to reshape the political destiny of their nation.

Daniel Neep’s Syria: A Modern History offers a gripping narrative of how Syrians have navigated these events. Never losing sight of the fates of ordinary people, it provides a comprehensive account of how a nation born in conflict nevertheless sustained a rich, complex, and diverse society that will now chart its own path into the uncertain future.
 

Daniel Neep is Senior Fellow and Director of Publications at Arab Center Washington DC and Non-resident Fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies, Brandeis University. He has taught Middle East politics at Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service, George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, and the University of Exeter. He was previously Research Director (Syria) at the Council for British Research in the Levant. He was educated at Oxford University, the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and the Institut Francis d'Etudes Arabes à Damas. He lived for seven years in Syria and Jordan and now resides in the Washington D.C. region.