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What are the origins of the Syrian crisis, and why did no one do anything to stop it?

Since 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. Militant Sunni groups, such as ISIS, have taken control of large swathes of the nation. The impact of this catastrophe is now being felt on the streets of Europe and the United States.

Veteran Middle East expert Charles Glass combines reportage, analysis, and history to provide an accessible overview of the origins and permutations defining the conflict. He also gives a powerful argument for why the West has failed to get to grips with the consequences of the crisis.

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"Tells us more about the reality of Syria and its future than could be gained from any other single source."
-Patrick Cockburn, from the foreword

"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, New York Times

"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 traveling in and writing about the Middle East since the 1980s ... 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

"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, author of The Tragedy of Lebanon

"Cutting through the misrepresentation that plagues most media coverage of the region, Glass clearly explains the current conflict, drawing on his extensive reporting experience in Syria.
- In These Times

"Glass offers a brief but necessary look at the country´s past."
- History News Network

"Glass has tackled an enormously complex war and its context ... If we learned and took to the heart the history outlined in Syria Burning , perhaps we wouldn´t repeat it."
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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Charles Glass is an author, journalist and broadcaster, who specializes in the Middle East. He made headlines when taken hostage for 62 days in Lebanon by Shi´a militants in 1987, while writing a book during his time as ABC News´s chief Middle East correspondent. He writes regularly for the New York Review of Books , Harper´s , the London Review of Books and the Spectator . He is the author of Tribes with Flags , Money for Old Rope , The Tribes Triumphant , The Northern Front , Americans in Paris , and Deserters: A Hidden History of World War II .

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