Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East Paperback – February 8, 1989

Speaking as one who has "been there, done that," hopefully I can provide some extensively observed enlightenment. Syria and the Assad dynasty, for all their faults, has protected the lives and faith of thousands of Christians in the country. Christian religious sites across the country, many dating back 2000 years have been protected. The Cross is displayed on churches and Christian ministers and missionaries preach without imposition or limitation from the government. Insurrection and revolutionary movements have been attempted over the years, and as you would if someone were to take your home away from you, steps were taken and presently are being taken, to suppress the efforts. Should the present revolutionary forces take over the country there will be civil war for years while the various tribes, ethnic and religious combatants vie for control of the government and banking system. The Assad government may not be the ultimate, democratic and sublimely peaceful ruling party that suits your "from afar" position. The takeover by revolutionary forces will result in a blood bath, destruction of churches and the death of thousands of peaceful Christians. Is that your choice? You know of the destruction and havoc to the religious sites and lives of those living in Afghanistan, parts of Syria and Iraq. Certainly, that is not the fate we wish on Syria.

Excellent book on Syrian history. This book helps to explain the historical foundation behind the crisis in Syria today. Patrick Seale was one of the best Syrian historians; his death is a great loss. A must read for anyone interested in Syria.

must say, it changes my prospective about many historical events in the area! Its a good book to start your own debate about the period during Asad's life. It gives you a insight about the man's human side and struggles to control his destiny...I loved the book...

This book is important for anyone trying to learn about the Middle East, but I agree with other reviewers that the book is flawed. It is very biased and paints Asad in a much more positive light than he deserves. Asad and his regime were responsible for many atrocities and has contributed to the instability of the region, but Mr. Seale simply glosses over many of these crimes.Mr. Seale's description of Asad's attack against the Syrian city of Hama is cursory at best. By all accounts I have read Hama was devastated, and thousands of people were killed, maimed or displaced, but the account given here doesn't say anything about the human suffering. Not only that but Seale seems to justify and even approve of the action because of the attacks that emanated from this city.Asad was not a humanitarian and his regime was extremely oppressive. As with any authoritarian regime Asad enriched cronies to the detriment of the Syrian people. He killed and tortured his own people. These facts seemed to be omitted from this book. I have no idea why this was left out, but it skews the book and leaves the reader an irrevocably flawed book. This book also casts Israel as the main instigator in all the areas troubles. This book will leave the uninformed reader with the impression that had the region simply followed Asad then all would have been well. The fact is that Israel does in fact shoulder some blame for the current situation, but they certainly do not deserve all the blame.With that said the book is still important, and deserves the 4 star rating I gave it. Syria is a very important nation and the more we know about it the better informed we will be of the entire situation. This book contributes to the readers greater understanding of this region as long as they understand that the book is biased. The nature of the Asad regime means there will be little information available to readers, so any information is important.This book is well written and the author has obviously done a lot of research and got to know Asad very well. There is a lot of important information in here, but all readers should come into this book understanding its flaws right from the beginning.

A comprehensive history not only of Asad's life but also that of contemporary Syria. For students of Syrian history, this is a must read.

unbiased

This is probably the only available biography of late Syrian President Hafez Assad. Keep in mind that Seale was given all that he had asked for - like many other Western scholars who were treated to the court and became apologetic to the regime - to write this book which makes him, so to speak, the spokesperson of the presidential court. Even though Seale reports about the many murders that happened during the career of Assad, he does so from an apologetic perspective. Assad is always depicted as having to kill before his adversaries kill him. While this could be true in the context of tribal Arab politics, it relieves Assad of all of the responsibilities of the killings that happened during his reign.Additionally, the book lacks proper investigative methodology.Things are narrated from the eyes of Assad, with some minimal background. When Seale talks about Assad's brother Rifaat who tried to replace his brother through a coups d'etats in the early 80s, for example, Seale gives an account about Rifaat that could have only been written after Rifaat had fallen out with his brother and was sent to exile. Rifaat is described as a hot tempered gangster kid since his early childhood who used to carry a stick and bully his peers. While reports about Rifaat's atrocities during his rule under his brother should not be undermined, stories about Rifaat's innate hot temper should be taken with a grain of salt. If this book was written during the days of Rifaat while still in favor with his brother, then a different account would have probably been produced about the president's brother. Additionally, the sources are limited and often not thoroughly cross examined to establish their credibility when writing the history of Syria's dictator.