Syria's tumultuous twentieth century through the life of a central figure in Syrian politicsBorn into an aristocratic Damascene family in 1889, Fakhri al-Barudi was a household name in Syria, universally acclaimed as one of the country's founding fathers and a leading figure in the country’s struggle for independence from French rule during the 1920s. A politician, he grew up in a world of privilege but also witnessed the decline of Ottoman rule and the rise of Ara...

While recent scholarship has focused on wartime Syria, this book is dedicated to heads of state in the immediate post-Ottoman era until the end of the French Mandate in 1946.Here, renowned Syrian historian, Sami Moubayed, examines Syria's first eleven heads of state who led the country between 1918 and 1946. With a chapter dedicated to each leader, Moubayed sheds light on the political culture of the time and traces the trajectory of how Syria was governed through colonialism, mona...

The conclusion of World War I and the subsequent breakup of the Ottoman Empire led to theindependence of a number of Arab nations and resulted in a Western scramble for roles ofcontrol and influence over them. It was not until after World War I that Syria and the United States had a formal diplomatic relationship - prior to then the only Americans who had developed a relationship with the nation were missionaries, particularly those involved with the Syrian Protestant Colle...

In the aftermath of World War I Syria paved a path towards democracy. Initially as part of the French mandate in the Middle East and latterly as an independent republic, Syria put in place the instruments of democratic government that it was hoped would lead to a stable future. This book tells the story of Syria's formative years, using previously-unseen material from the personal papers of Ahmad Sharabati, a prominent nationalist who served in different capacities during colonial times an...

Syria has led the Arab World in many ways for the past 100 years. It was the headquarters of the Arab nationalist movement in the 1910s and among the region's earliest and most vibrant democracies in 1918. Legislation giving women the vote was introduced to the Syrian parliament before a similar measure passed in the US in 1920.Syrians lost their independence to the French in 1920 in the Battle of Maysaloun--and Moubayed tells the story of a young Syrian woman who ripped off her ve...

The Islamic State movement (ISIS/ISIL/IS) burst onto the world stage in 2014. From its heartland in Syria, where it arose from the chaos of the Syrian Revolt, the organisation has expanded in ideology and membership and now poses a significant threat to the region, if not to the wider world. Moubayed, a Beirut-based journalist who has been analysing Syria and the region for 20 years, has unrivalled access to the movement and its participants. His book is the first inside account of an orga...

In “a clear-eyed and shrewd examination…of how the US seems to be mired in a losing and intractable battle against global terrorism” (Publishers Weekly), Mark Danner describes a nation forever altered by President George W. Bush’s war of choice after 9/11.The War on Terror has led to fifteen years of armed conflict, the longest war in America’s history. Al Qaeda, the organization that attacked us on 9/11, has been “decimated” (the word is Obama’s) but repl...

**From a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and bestselling author, an unflinching and close-up look at war: its intoxicating allure, its gruesome realities, and the grander truths it exposes about humanity“A brilliant, thoughtful, timely, and unsettling book . . . Abounds with Hedges’ harrowing and terribly moving eyewitness accounts.” —The New York TimesFinalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction**As a veteran war correspondent, Chri...

**“Detailed, nuanced, gripping . . . A must-read for all who care about presidential power.” —The Washington PostFrom the New York Times bestselling author comes the definitive, revelatory reckoning with arguably the most consequential decision in the history of American foreign policy--the Bush and Cheney administration's decision to invade Iraq.**Even now, after more than fifteen years, it is hard to see the invasion of Iraq through the cool, considered ...

War is one of the greatest human evils. It has ruined livelihoods, provoked unspeakable atrocities and left countless millions dead. It has caused economic chaos and widespread deprivation. And the misery it causes poisons foreign policy for future generations.But, argues bestselling historian Ian Morris, in the very long term, war has in fact been a good thing. In his trademark style combining inter-disciplinary insights, scientific methods and fascinating stories, Morris shows th...

Today, nations increasingly carry out geopolitical combat through economic means. Policies governing everything from trade and investment to energy and exchange rates are wielded as tools to win diplomatic allies, punish adversaries, and coerce those in between. Not so in the United States, however. America still too often reaches for the gun over the purse to advance its interests abroad. The result is a playing field sharply tilting against the United States.In a cogent analysis ...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER | NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR.From an eminent international security scholar, an urgent examination of the geopolitical conditions that could produce a catastrophic conflict between the United States and China—and how it might be prevented.China and the United States are heading toward a war neither wants. The reason is Thucydides’s Trap: when a rising power threatens to displace a ruling one in the field of international rela...