Daniel Neep

[A] masterly narrative... Daniel Neep’s excellent, comprehensive history corrects the traditional narrative of a passive Syria by placing its people at the heart of their story.

A timely moment for a much longer historical sweep of the country, which is what Daniel Neep provides in A History of Modern Syria. He shows that many of the issues now facing the country's leaders are by no means new... [offering] refreshing takes on familiar stories... a corrective to the lazy trope of Syria being a product of colonialism.

Few countries have had as vexed a political history as Syria. Carved out of the Ottoman empire at the end of the First World War, Syria was then brutally ruled by France. This French ‘mandate’ carved out new borders with equally provisional neighbours in a process that pulled apart families, trade networks and political assumptions that had already been ravaged by the war. 
 
Syria's subsequent history has been a series of attempts to make sense of its borders, including a failed attempt in the late 1950s to unite with Egypt and several humiliations at the hands of Israel's armed forces. The civil war that broke out in 2011 plunged Syria into a nightmarish series of disasters, including the terrible years of Islamic State, ultimately resulting in the reimposition of Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship, which came to an end in 2024. 
 
Daniel Neep’s remarkable book creates a gripping, intelligent narrative of how Syrians have lived through these events, never losing sight either of the fates of ordinary people or of Syria’s rich, complex and diverse society, unwillingly or willingly brought together in such a highly contested space.

A History of Modern Syria

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Daniel Neep

Praise for A History of Modern Syria

[A] masterly narrative... Daniel Neep’s excellent, comprehensive history corrects the traditional narrative of a passive Syria by placing its people at the heart of their story.

A timely moment for a much longer historical sweep of the country, which is what Daniel Neep provides in A History of Modern Syria. He shows that many of the issues now facing the country's leaders are by no ...

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