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Syria: A Modern History
A landmark new history of Syria, a country forged in conflict, cursed by civil war and dictatorship, but nevertheless fated to be pivotal to the future of the Middle East
Modern Syria has seen violence, repression, and autocracy, suffering through tragedy after tragedy over the past century. Yet the history of Syria is not just a tale of dictators and generals. From the 1800s to the 2020s, the Syrian people have engaged in a passionate struggle for justice, equality, and a better future. Whether fighting for national independence from French colonial rule, battling local landowning elites to share of the country’s wealth, or rising up against the Assad regime, the Syrian people have fiercely clung to their right to live with respect and dignity. Theirs is a story of protest and perseverance in the long fight to reshape the political destiny of their nation.
Daniel Neep’s A Modern History offers a gripping narrative of how Syrians have navigated these events. Never losing sight of the fates of ordinary people, it provides a comprehensive account of how a nation born in conflict nevertheless sustained a rich, complex, and diverse society that will now chart its own path into the uncertain future.
Modern Syria has seen violence, repression, and autocracy, suffering through tragedy after tragedy over the past century. Yet the history of Syria is not just a tale of dictators and generals. From the 1800s to the 2020s, the Syrian people have engaged in a passionate struggle for justice, equality, and a better future. Whether fighting for national independence from French colonial rule, battling local landowning elites to share of the country’s wealth, or rising up against the Assad regime, the Syrian people have fiercely clung to their right to live with respect and dignity. Theirs is a story of protest and perseverance in the long fight to reshape the political destiny of their nation.
Daniel Neep’s A Modern History offers a gripping narrative of how Syrians have navigated these events. Never losing sight of the fates of ordinary people, it provides a comprehensive account of how a nation born in conflict nevertheless sustained a rich, complex, and diverse society that will now chart its own path into the uncertain future.
560 pages, Hardcover
Published February 24, 2026
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February 24, 2026
First, I should thank the publisher for providing me with an early read.
Second, Syria: A Modern History by Daniel Neep is a landmark, sweeping political history of Syria from the late Ottoman period through the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's regime in late 2024. To me, it is an essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the country and its people. The author, Daniel Neep, is known to researchers and journalists: this is his second book on Syria; his first, Occupying Syria under the French Mandate, established his credentials as a scholar of Syrian political history.
The book spans nearly two centuries, tracing Syria's formation from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, through the brutal French Mandate period that carved artificial borders and tore apart families and trade networks, through successive military coups, the failed 1950s union with Egypt, humiliations at the hands of Israel, the Assad dynasty's decades of dictatorship, the catastrophic civil war from 2011, the rise and fall of the Islamic State, and ultimately the implosion of Bashar al-Assad's rule.
Second, Syria: A Modern History by Daniel Neep is a landmark, sweeping political history of Syria from the late Ottoman period through the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's regime in late 2024. To me, it is an essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the country and its people. The author, Daniel Neep, is known to researchers and journalists: this is his second book on Syria; his first, Occupying Syria under the French Mandate, established his credentials as a scholar of Syrian political history.
The book spans nearly two centuries, tracing Syria's formation from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, through the brutal French Mandate period that carved artificial borders and tore apart families and trade networks, through successive military coups, the failed 1950s union with Egypt, humiliations at the hands of Israel, the Assad dynasty's decades of dictatorship, the catastrophic civil war from 2011, the rise and fall of the Islamic State, and ultimately the implosion of Bashar al-Assad's rule.
Displaying 1 of 1 review