Revolt in Syria: Eye-witness to the Uprising (Columbia/Hurst)
Stephen Starr explores Syria's religious and class divisions with a keen eye for personal anecdote and broad truths. He gets below the surface of this country where people often speak in half-truths and use misdirection as the first line of defense, and he knows the corruption and immobility of Syria's state institutions, but also understands why so many Syrians cling to these same institutions for stability and jobs in a region troubled by so many failed states. Starr is a deft guide to Syria in the midst of revolution. A must-read.(Joshua M. Landis, director, Center for Middle East Studies, University of Oklahoma)Stephen Starr's four-year stay in Syria as a sharp-eyed freelance journalist has given him unusual assets -- an uncommon knowledge of daily life in Damascus; an understanding of the ills of Syrian society; an extensive network of friends from different communities; and sympathetic insight into divided loyalties as the country slides ever closer to civil war.(Patrick Seale, author ofThe Struggle for Arab Independence: Riad el-Solh and the Makers of the Modern Middle East)Revolt in Syria is far more than a simple focus on the clash between the regime and the protestors. It explores, from a non-academic perspective, the fundamental debates that define modern Syria, from dichotomies of state and society, urban and rural, rich and poor, ethnicity and sectarianism which all contribute towards an overall narrative of suppressed discontent which is essential for understanding what fuelled anger in the first place.... An important contribution to this hugely stifled subject.(James Denselow,Huffington Post UK)Written with insight and verve, this book is essential reading for anybody interested in Syria.(Fergal Keane, BBC journalist and author ofRoad of Bones: The Siege of Kohima 1944)The book is an important contribution to the hugely stifled subject of Syria...(Huffington Post)Stephen Starr has written an extraordinary account of the uprising against the regime of Bashar al-Assad.... [An] impressive and insightful eye-witness account.(Vincent DuracIrish Times)Starr's book is not only an important contribution to the uprising, but also a sometimes terrifying account of the Syrian police state.(Tam HusseinNew Statesman)Essential reading.(Lauren WilliamsThe Daily Star)