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Syria in Ashes

Civil War to Holy War?

Charles Glass Aaron Mate

$34.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English
OR Books
30 July 2025
In this extensively updated edition of a book that was widely praised on its first publication nearly a decade ago, the acclaimed foreign correspondent and author Charles Glass, brings the the story of Syria up to date. In these pages he looks at the way the Assad government emerged victorious from a conflict that has left the country in ruins, wide swathes of its population immiserated, and a range of conflicts still unresolved.

The nuances of the Syrian civil war have never been well-understood in the West, least of all, it seems, by governments in the US and Europe, who, anticipating Assad's departure, made it a condition of any negotiated settlement. The consequences of that miscalculation, Charles Glass contends in this illuminating survey, contributed greatly to the disaster 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 sloganising that shapes so much commentary, and policy, concerning Syria.

'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
By:  
Foreword by:  
Imprint:   OR Books
Country of Publication:   United States
Dimensions:   Height: 178mm,  Width: 127mm, 
ISBN:   9781682196069
ISBN 10:   1682196062
Pages:   200
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming

Charles Glass is an author, journalist and broadcaster, who specialises 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's News 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, Deserters: A Hidden History of World War II and, most recently, Soldiers Don't Go Mad.

Reviews for Syria in Ashes: Civil War to Holy War?

“A masterful guide. Glass makes the complex simple and Syria’s torment human” —Joshua Landis, University of Oklahoma ""Charles Glass has been for several decades one of the finest Middle East journalists writing in English, and, what's more, he writes with enviable elegance and a sense of history that has become all too rare."" —Adam Shatz ""This is a book to be read by anybody seeking to understand the complexities of Syria; its richly mesmerising past and its tragic present. Charles Glass has delved deep into the very soul of the country in all its contrarian facets."" —Ghayth Armanazi, author of The Story of Syria ""A nuanced voice to all sides of the war in Syria, interweaving its modern history with key developments from earlier periods, thereby offering a kind of depth rarely found in other works. He diverges from most Western media. . . "" —Nikolaos van Dam, Former Ambassador of the Netherlands and Special Envoy for Syria PRAISE FOR CHARLES GLASS: “More than ever in the era of twenty-four-hour soundbite news, events demand the long view ... With his deep experience of the Levant, that is exactly what Charlie Glass offers.” —Alan Cowell, former Middle East Bureau Chief, The New York Times “I am a lifetime admirer of T. E. Lawrence, but I can’t help but remark what a great book his Seven Pillars of Wisdom would have been had he been as gifted a writer as Charles Glass.” —Evening Standard “I envy you if you have the luck to be meeting Charlie Glass.” —Christopher Hitchens


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