Syria:
Tragedy of a Pivotal State
By Rajendra M. Abhyankar
Palgrave, 2020, 318 pages, $133.82, ISBN: 9789811545610
Syrian Requiem:
The Civil War and Its Aftermath
By Itamar Rabinovich and Carmit Valensi
Princeton University Press, 2021, 288 pages, $29.95, ISBN: 9780691193311
War-Torn:
The Unmaking of Syria, 2011-2021
By Leïla Vignal
Oxford University Press, 2021, 328 pages, $39.95, ISBN: 9780197619988
Introduction
The Syrian crisis has been ongoing for more than 10 years. Since the beginning of the crisis, hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost, dozens of cities have been demolished, and millions of people have become refugees or internally displaced. The Assad regime was able to maintain its hold on power by relying on Russia and Iran, but at the expense of Syria’s demographic and economic future. As of this year, the most pressing issues, including millions of migrants, terrorist groups inside the country, and the diplomatic isolation of the regime, have yet to be resolved. The crisis also receives the scholarly attention it deserves with articles and books frequently written by people with academic and professional experience.
This article reviews three recently released books on the Syrian conflict. In the first book, Rajendra M. Abhyankar, a former Indian ambas