Since its commencement in the upsurge of the Arab Spring in 2011, the Syrian civil war has claimed in excess of 200,000 lives, with an estimated 8 million Syrians, more than a third of the country’s population, forced to flee their homes. A stalemate now exists in the country with the government of Bashar al-Assad maintaining its grip on most of the cities in the west, while large swathes of the countryside in the north and east are under the control of the Islamic fundamentalist groups ISIS and the Nusra Front. The Caliphate announced by ISIS in the summer of 2014 occupies some 35% of the country, as well as vast territory across the border in Iraq.

The nuances of this conflict have never been well-understood in the West, least of all, it seems, by governments in the US and Europe, who, anticipating Assad's sudden departure, made it a condition of any negotiated settlement. The consequences of that miscalculation, Charles Glass contends in this illuminating and concise survey, have contributed greatly to the unfolding disaster that we witness today.

Glass has reported extensively from the Middle East, and travelled frequently in Syria, over several decades. Here he melds together reportage, analysis and history to provide an accessible overview of the origins and permutations defining the conflict, situating it clearly in the overall crisis of the region. His voice, elegant and concise, humane and richly-informed, is a vital antidote to the sloganizing that shapes so much commentary, and policy, concerning the civil war.

"More than ever in the era of 24-hour sound-bite news, events demand the long view if they are to be explicable. With his deep experience of the Levant, that is exactly what Charlie Glass offers the student of the Middle East in this timely, elegant and penetrating study of turmoil that has reshaped the region." - Alan Cowell, former Middle East Bureau Chief, The New York Times

"Charles Glass has written a cautionary lament for the last gasp of what once was the Levant, his 'Syria', chronicling not just the facts of that unhappy country's current civil war but the mindless destruction of its great monuments. Read Syria Burning to understand why the Assad regime was uniquely prepared and determined to resist the winds of change, even if the war doubtless marks the end of a century of post-Ottoman history." - Jonathan Randal, former Washington Post Middle East Correspondent and author of The Tragedy of LebanonM.

"If news moves fast, assessments have not, which is one reason why we should all read Syria Burning...[But] there is another, better reason to read this book. Glass has been travelling in and writing about the Middle East since the 1980s when he was Middle East correspondent for ABC News. He made the headlines himself in 1987, when he was held hostage in Beirut for almost nine weeks. His view on how the conflict has escalated and why it has not taken the turns many others anticipated make for enlightening reading." - The Observer (London)

Since its commencement in the upsurge of the Arab Spring in 2011, the Syrian civil war has claimed in excess of 200,000 lives, with an estimated 8 million Syrians, more than a third of the country’s population, forced to flee their homes. A stalemate now exists in the country with the government of Bashar al-Assad maintaining its grip on most of the cities in the west, while large swathes of the countryside in the north and east are under the control of the Islamic fundamentalist groups ISIS and the Nusra Front. The Caliphate announced by ISIS in the summer of 2014 occupies some 35% of the country, as well as vast territory across the border in Iraq.

The nuances of this conflict have never been well-understood in the West, least of all, it seems, by governments in the US and Europe, who, anticipating Assad's sudden departure, made it a condition of any negotiated settlement. The consequences of that miscalculation, Charles Glass contends in this illuminating and concise survey, have contributed greatly to the unfolding disaster that we witness today.

Glass has reported extensively from the Middle East, and travelled frequently in Syria, over several decades. Here he melds together reportage, analysis and history to provide an accessible overview of the origins and permutations defining the conflict, situating it clearly in the overall crisis of the region. His voice, elegant and concise, humane and richly-informed, is a vital antidote to the sloganizing that shapes so much commentary, and policy, concerning the civil war.

"More than ever in the era of 24-hour sound-bite news, events demand the long view if they are to be explicable. With his deep experience of the Levant, that is exactly what Charlie Glass offers the student of the Middle East in this timely, elegant and penetrating study of turmoil that has reshaped the region." - Alan Cowell, former Middle East Bureau Chief, The New York Times

"Charles Glass has written a cautionary lament for the last gasp of what once was the Levant, his 'Syria', chronicling not just the facts of that unhappy country's current civil war but the mindless destruction of its great monuments. Read Syria Burning to understand why the Assad regime was uniquely prepared and determined to resist the winds of change, even if the war doubtless marks the end of a century of post-Ottoman history." - Jonathan Randal, former Washington Post Middle East Correspondent and author of The Tragedy of LebanonM.

"If news moves fast, assessments have not, which is one reason why we should all read Syria Burning...[But] there is another, better reason to read this book. Glass has been travelling in and writing about the Middle East since the 1980s when he was Middle East correspondent for ABC News. He made the headlines himself in 1987, when he was held hostage in Beirut for almost nine weeks. His view on how the conflict has escalated and why it has not taken the turns many others anticipated make for enlightening reading." - The Observer (London)