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English
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ASSAD OR WE BURN THE COUNTRY

Sam Dagher

How One Family's Lust For Power Destroyed Syria

From a Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist specializing in the Middle East, this groundbreaking account of the Syrian Civil War reveals the never-before-published true story of a 21st-century humanitarian disaster.

IA New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice Pick

"A vivid and powerful account of the roots and course of the conflict, setting it in the context of Assad's personal history and approach to power."―Washington Post

"A powerful testimony of a war correspondent...His account carries the outrage and passion of a witness to atrocity."―Financial Times

In spring 2011, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad turned to his friend and army commander, Manaf Tlass, for advice about how to respond to Arab Spring-inspired protests. Tlass pushed for conciliation but Assad decided to crush the uprising—an act that would catapult the country into an eight-year long war, killing almost half a million and fueling terrorism and a global refugee crisis.

Assad or We Burn the Countryexamines Syria's tragedy through the generational saga of the Assad and Tlass families, once deeply intertwined and now estranged in Bashar's bloody quest to preserve his father's inheritance. Drawing on exclusive interviews with Tlass, now a defector from Assad's circle, and Dagher's own firsthand experience as a reporter based in Damascus, the book takes readers within the palace walls to reveal the family behind the destruction of a country and the chaos of an entire region. Dagher shows how one of the world's most vicious police states came to be and explains how a regional conflict extended globally, engulfing the Middle East and pitting the United States and Russia against one another.

Timely, propulsive, and expertly reported, this is the definitive account of this global crisis, going far beyond the news story that has dominated headlines for years.

Sam Dagher has reported in the Middle East for more than fifteen years, most recently for The Atlantic. He was the only non-Syrian reporter for a major Western media outlet based in Damascus from 2012 to 2014, a period during which he was arrested by a pro Assad militia and briefly held in an underground mukhabarat (secret police) prison. He was later expelled from Syria for reporting deemed unfavorable to the regime. He has worked for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, and Agence France Presse, and has covered the conflict in Iraq, the Arab Spring uprisings, and Libya. The Wall Street Journalnominated Dagher's work from Syria for the Pulitzer Prize and other journalism awards.

North AmericaLittle, Brown (pre-empt)• Japan representationTuttle-Mori

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Book Published 2019-05-28 by Little Brown

Comments

Sam Dagher's book Assad or We Burn the Country is a vivid and at times gruelling account of the suppression of the Syrian resistance. The awkward title comes from graffiti daubed by regime security forces in areas they had wrested control back from the rebels. It is a powerful testimony of a war correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. His account carries the outrage and passion of a witness to atrocity. Read more...

In this gripping narrative of the inner workings of the Assad regime, Dagher delivers a stunning portrait of the ruthlessness and brutality at the heart of the family that has dominated Syria for fifty years. Captivating in its detailed, first-person accounts from key figures inside Syria's corridors of power, his is the most complete and compelling account to date of Bashar's unlikely rise to power, and the relentless violence he has unleashed since 2011 to preserve his iron grip over the country. Essential reading from a noted journalist and one of the world's best-informed Syria watchers.

The Syrian uprising has been one of the most consequential events in our new century - it has changed the world. Sam Dagher has been reporting from the heart of the crisis. His book, told through the eyes of two important Syrian insiders, a human rights activist and a former Brigadier General of the Syrian Republican Guard, is a vivid description of the crisis as it unfolded over the past 8 years. It is a must read for anyone who seeks to understand the complex world we are living in.

great interview on "Morning Edition" of National Public Radio Read more...

A harrowing, deeply researched look inside a country riven by a brutal, long-running dictatorship that would rather destroy the country and its people than relinquish power. ... A book that should deservedly garner significant award attention.

article and interview: 'Brute, Naked Fear.' How Bashar Assad Is Using His Family's Old Tactics to Regain His Grip on Syria ... In a conversation with TIME he (Sam Dagher) discussed how the regime burnished Bashar's image after Hafez handed him power in 2000 and how alongside his wife Asma - subject of a fawning Vogue profile published in 2011 - the British-educated ophthalmologist attempted to cast himself as a reformist. But in copying his father's methods of crushing dissent, he caused a war that has killed more than 500,000 people. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.... Read more...

As the only Western reporter based in Damascus during the Syrian civil war, Dagher has a rich perspective on the inner machinations of the regime of Bashar al Assad. In this important book, he lays out in grim detail the staggering cynicism and ruthless brutality of the Assad family. In doing so, he provides readers with a timely description of the dynasty that precipitated the destruction of a nation.

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Parsing the long-standing Syrian nightmare in dizzying detail with the help of Assad insider Manaf Tlass, veteran Middle East journalist Dagher dissects the myriad competing sectarian and geopolitical influences that have culminated in one of the worst humanitarian crisis of our time, providing readers with a deep look at a horrific civil war.

Sam Dagher's grim and impressively detailed account of the destruction of a country rests on two closely related factors: first, he was the only journalist for a major western newspaper based permanently in Damascus from 2012-2014, before being detained and thrown out. Second, his work is impeccably sourced - his access to Tlass and others provides rich insights into Assad and his inner circle, as well as into leading opposition activists. Read more...

Sam Dagher's article in The Atlantic: "Syria's New Assad Statues Send a Sinister Message: 'We Are Back' " Read more...