Syria : A Modern History by Daniel Neep (2026, Proof)

Few countries have had as vexed a political history as Syria. Carved out of the Ottoman empire at the end of the First World War, Syria was then brutally ruled by France. This French \u2018mandate\u2019 carved out new borders with equally provisional neighbours in a process that pulled apart families, trade networks and political assumptions that had already been ravaged by the war.\n\nSyria's subsequent history has been a series of attempts to make sense of its borders, including a failed attempt in the late 1950s to unite with Egypt and several humiliations at the hands of Israel's armed forces. The civil war that broke out in 2011 plunged Syria into a nightmarish series of disasters, including the terrible years of Islamic State, ultimately resulting in the reimposition of Bashar al-Assad\u2019s dictatorship, which came to an end in 2024.\n\nDaniel Neep\u2019s remarkable book creates a gripping, intelligent narrative of how Syrians have lived through these events, never losing sig.