Burning Country

Leila Al-Shami, Robin Yassin-Kassab

Description

*Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize 2017*



In 2011, many Syrians took to the streets of Damascus to demand the overthrow of the government of Bashar al-Assad. Today, much of Syria has become a war zone where foreign journalists find it almost impossible to report on life in this devastated land.



Burning Country explores the horrific and complicated reality of life in present-day Syria with unprecedented detail and sophistication, drawing on new first hand testimonies from opposition fighters, exiles lost in an archipelago of refugee camps, and courageous human rights activists among many others. These stories are expertly interwoven with a trenchant analysis of the brutalisation of the conflict and the militarisation of the uprising, of the rise of the Islamists and sectarian warfare, and the role of governments in Syria and elsewhere in exacerbating those violent processes.



With chapters focusing on ISIS and Islamism, regional geopolitics, the new grassroots revolutionary organisations, and the worst refugee crisis since World War Two, Burning Country is a vivid and groundbreaking look at a modern-day political and humanitarian nightmare.

List of Abbreviations

Acknowledgements

Preface

Maps

1. Revolution From Above

2. Bashaar’s First Decade

3. Revolution From Below

4. The Grassroots

5. Militarisation and Liberation

6. Scorched Earth: The Rise of the Islamisms

7. Dispossession and Exile

8. Culture Revolutionised

9. The Failure of the Elites

10. The Start of Solidarity

11. Syria Dismantled

Further Reading

Notes

Index

Sujets

• Political Ideologies
• International Relations
• Human Rights
• Modern
• HISTORY
• POLITICAL SCIENCE
• Histoire
• Revolutions
• Hezbolá
• ISIS
• Partido de los Trabajadores de Kurdistán
• Alepo
• Hafez al-Asad
• Irán
• 21st century
• Revolutionary
• Iraq
• Syria
• Isis (disambiguation)
• Modern history
• Alawi
• Aleppo
• General officer
• Hafez al-Assad
• Kurdistan Workers' Party
• Revolution
• Muslim Brotherhood
• Kurdish people
• Damascus
• Druze
• Image and Scanner Interface Specification
• General
• Parti des travailleurs du Kurdistan
• Irak
• Obermodern-Zutzendorf
• Hafez el-Assad
• Druzes
• Alep
• Iran

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 20 février 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781786802798
• Langue: English

Extrait

From reviews of the first edition ‘Extraordinary ... the book on Syria I was waiting for’ – Molly Crabapple, artist, author, journalist ‘Gripping ... Cutting through the fog of geopolitic s, [Burning Country] refocuses the conflict with the people at its centre’ – Brian Whitaker,Newsweek ‘A detailed history of Syria’s moderate opposition and a meticulous analysis of the origins of today’s violent dynamics’ –New Statesman ‘Explores how Syria’s peaceful uprising gave way to armed insurgency and sectarian jihad ... This is an important, honest an d insightful book, well worth anyone’s time’ – Marc Lynch,Washington Post ‘Avoids the easy indulgence of indignation; instead , it elicits the voices of many different Syrians involved in the uprising, acknowl edging their suffering as well as their courage, intelligence, and humanity, while ex plaining the terrible choices that have been forced on them’ – Ursula Lindsey,The Nation ‘The most succinct and convincing insider’s narrati ve of the uprising’ – Richard Spencer,Daily Telegraph ‘Vital’ – Peter Geoghegan,The Herald ‘Full of fascinating details’ – Robyn Cresswell,New York Review of Books ‘For decades Syrians have been forbidden from telli ng their own stories and the story of their country, but here Robin Yassin-Kassa b and Leila al-Shami tell the Syrian story’ – Yassin al-Haj Saleh, Syrian writer, intellectual and former political prisoner ‘By far the best account of the Syrian uprising yet ’ – Dr Yasser Munif, Professor of Sociology at Emerson College, co-founder of the Glo bal Campaign of Solidarity with the Syrian Revolution ‘Unique in its combination of first-hand material d erived from fieldwork, factual and analytical rigour, and unshakable faith in the Syri an people’s struggle for justice and dignity’ – Thomas Pierret, Lecturer in Contempo rary Islam, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Edinburgh, and Direc tor of the Centre for the Advanced Study of the Arab World (CASAW) ‘A compelling counter-narrative, rich with the voic es of the Syrian people’ –In These Times ‘Anyone who doubts the popular nature of the Syrian Revolution should read this stirring account’ – Ashley Smith, SocialistWorker.o rg ‘A timely and searing account of Syria’s recent his tory and the people who shaped it’ –Ceasefire ‘Read this book to better understand the Syrian rev olution, the people who made it, and the war from which so many have fled’ –Socialist Review ‘Should be read by as many people as possible’ –Counterpunch ‘A definitive people’s history of the uprising’ –Dissent ‘This is the best book yet interpreting the tragedi es that have befallen Syria ... Highly recommended’ –CHOICE ‘One of the best books that have been written about the Syrian revolution turned civil war’ –Book Riot ‘Outstanding’ –Marxist Left Review

Burning Country