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cemoses's review against another edition
5.0
It is an interesting book about a difficult situation. The author's thesis is that there are worse things for Syria than Assad and the life was better in Syria before the war. The author shows a picture of Syrian and its culture which is being destroyed by the war.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
jpowerj's review against another edition
3.0
I think this book has some important points to make, mainly the ones that push back against the exaltation of the rebels that "Burning Country" performs. But on the whole it struck me as sort of a whitewashing of the Assad regime; the argument is along the lines of "yes there are bad things about Assad, but he's still an anti-imperialist hero and the results of a successful revolution would be way worse than Assad in this respect". To make this argument, Glass conflates the FSA with al-Nusra and ISIS, literally not zooming in at all on the ideological/practical differences between these groups...
silea's review against another edition
4.0
A Cliff's Notes for the Syrian conflict. Shallow but thorough.
mayoroffailure's review against another edition
2.0
This is a pretty hard book to review, because on the one hand it contains a lot of important history but on the other side it barely does what it's supposed to do. When the Syrian Civil War broke out in 2011 most people expected it to topple the government within the year, if the previous protests of the Arab Spring were to be believed another Middle Eastern country would convert to a democratic process. Now the country is six years removed from the beginning of the uprising and after a number of complex moves it would appear as though the war could go on for ever.
I do agree with the forward of Syria Burning in that there is a need for a conscience well researched history of the conflict, but this is not it. I would venture to guess that most people don't understand much about the conflict aside from Gary Johnson's Aleppo gaffe and the other stories surrounding the siege of that city so a "Short History of a Catastrophe" would probably be well received and do wonders to educate the populace.
A piece of advice to anyone writing a history book surrounding one topic, actually talk about it. This particular book contains a lot of interesting history about Syria's issue with governmental stability and their place in the middle east, but very little information about the current conflict facing the nation. There is a short timeline at the books beginning but after that Mr. Glass only dedicates a few paragraphs per chapter to the modern conflict and fills the rest of them with history.
The other problem is that he doesn't keep a consistent timeline that moves forward with the years, he jumps around time periods from paragraph to paragraph and aside from a couple of times where he uses this style to compare history to modern day, this writing style only ends up confusing rather than informing. I also noticed a heavy amount of personal opinion in the book when, in my mind, if your going to write a history book your personal opinion should remain out of it. He mentions Israel and Zionists in a slanderous tone multiple times, doesn't get a Sunni opinion of the conflict, and generally espouses what he thinks rather than just reporting.
The book isn't all bad however, I can say that I learned a lot about Syria as a country. I also learned a lot of interesting information about the past issues that Syria has had trying to find a government for it's people. So I would certainly recommend this book if your looking for a brief history of governmental issues in Syria but apart from the short timeline in the beginning and few paragraphs in the main body of the work there is little information here. To me it seems like a rushed attempt to capitalize on a news story when it should have been a book that gives historical context to explain a modern issue.
I do agree with the forward of Syria Burning in that there is a need for a conscience well researched history of the conflict, but this is not it. I would venture to guess that most people don't understand much about the conflict aside from Gary Johnson's Aleppo gaffe and the other stories surrounding the siege of that city so a "Short History of a Catastrophe" would probably be well received and do wonders to educate the populace.
A piece of advice to anyone writing a history book surrounding one topic, actually talk about it. This particular book contains a lot of interesting history about Syria's issue with governmental stability and their place in the middle east, but very little information about the current conflict facing the nation. There is a short timeline at the books beginning but after that Mr. Glass only dedicates a few paragraphs per chapter to the modern conflict and fills the rest of them with history.
The other problem is that he doesn't keep a consistent timeline that moves forward with the years, he jumps around time periods from paragraph to paragraph and aside from a couple of times where he uses this style to compare history to modern day, this writing style only ends up confusing rather than informing. I also noticed a heavy amount of personal opinion in the book when, in my mind, if your going to write a history book your personal opinion should remain out of it. He mentions Israel and Zionists in a slanderous tone multiple times, doesn't get a Sunni opinion of the conflict, and generally espouses what he thinks rather than just reporting.
The book isn't all bad however, I can say that I learned a lot about Syria as a country. I also learned a lot of interesting information about the past issues that Syria has had trying to find a government for it's people. So I would certainly recommend this book if your looking for a brief history of governmental issues in Syria but apart from the short timeline in the beginning and few paragraphs in the main body of the work there is little information here. To me it seems like a rushed attempt to capitalize on a news story when it should have been a book that gives historical context to explain a modern issue.
idrees2022's review against another edition
2.0
There is some historical context in the book that readers might find useful, but there is very little about the present crisis that is either accurate, insightful or unbiased. Glass is at pains to conceal the imbalance of forces in Syria and tries to create a false parity by mentioning regime crimes in passing while focusing most of his attention on the opposition's shortcomings. He makes the task easier for himself by lumping the opposition together with ISIS (a monstrous outfit that terrorizes Syrians and which Syrian rebels have been fighting for over two years). Glass also reprises old-conspiracy theories, including a dubiously worded mention of the chemical massacre, which he curiously tries to blame equally on the victims. Glass acknowledges that the uprising was initially peaceful, but, like other ideologues, fails to mention why it got militarized (except suggesting that it was all a foreign conspiracy).
Overall Syria Burning gives the impression a book hastily put together by a publisher to make a quick buck off a hot topic. It neither enlightens nor edifies.
Overall Syria Burning gives the impression a book hastily put together by a publisher to make a quick buck off a hot topic. It neither enlightens nor edifies.
gresasawr's review against another edition
2.0
Very unorganized and spoke more in detail of the revolutions in Syria prior to the current war than the current war itself.
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