In The Syrian Rebellion, Middle East expert Fouad Ajami explains how an irresistible force clashed with an immovable object: the regime versus a people who conquered fear to challenge a despot of unspeakable cruelty. Offering a detailed historical perspective, he shows how, for four long decades, the Assad dynasty, the intelligence barons, and the brigade commanders had grown accustomed to a culture of quiescence and silence. But Syrians did not want to be ruled by Bashar’s children the way they had been ruled by Bashar and their parents, by Bashar’s father. This book tells how a proud people came to demand something more than a despotic regime of dictatorship and plunder.
Copyright 2012.