"The Seventh Century in the West-Syrian Chronicles" makes accessible to a wide public sources vital for the reconstruction of events in the first Islamic century, covering the period which ends with the unsuccessful Arab siege of Constantinople, an event which both modern historians and Syriac chronographers see as making a decisive caesura in history. The general introduction enables a newcomer to the field to establish his bearings before tackling the texts.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Although less well-known than Arab or Palestinian nationalism, Pan-Syrian nationalism-the dream of creating a Greater Syria out of Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and a portion of Turkey-has had a profound effect on Middle Eastern politics since the end of World War I. This book provides the first comprehensive account of this intriguing, important, and little understood ideology.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Jamais des preuves aussi accablantes de crimes de guerre et de crimes contre l’humanité n’avaient été divulguées alors qu’un conflit se poursuit. En Syrie un homme l’a fait. Son nom de code ? César. Ce photographe de la police militaire a risqué sa vie pour exfiltrer, pendant deux ans, 45 000 photos et documents de détenus torturés à mort. Il n’est jamais apparu devant des médias. En janvier 2015, dans le magazine américain Foreign Affairs, le président Bachar el-Assad a affirmé que ce photographe militaire n’existait pas : « Qui a pris ces photos ? Qui est-il ? Personne ne sait. Aucune vérification de ces preuves n’a été faite. Ce sont des allégations sans preuves. » César existe. L’auteur de ce livre a passé des dizaines d’heures avec lui. Son témoignage est exceptionnel. L’enquête sur le fonctionnement de la machine de mort syrienne, qui étaye son récit, est une plongée dans l’indicible.

• 1. al-Iʻlām bi-faḍāʼil al-Shām lil-Imām Abī Isḥāq ibn al-Firkāḥ al-Farāzī al-Shāfiʻī, al-mutawaffá sanat
• 729 H
• 2. Mukhtaṣar al-Iʻlām bi-faḍāʼil al-Quds wa-al-Shām lil-Imām Nūr al-Dīn ibn Ghānim al-Maqdisī, al-mutawaffá sanat
• 1004 H
• 3. Risālah fī taʻyīn qabr Mūsá ʻalayhi al-salām li-Abī Isḥāq ibn Firkāḥ al-Farāzī al-Shāfiʻī, al-mutawaffá sanat
• 729 H
• 4. Tuḥfat al-ḥabīb bi-akhbār al-thathīb lil-Imām Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn ʻAlī ibn Ṭūlūn al-Ḥanafī sanat
• 953 H
• 5. Risālah fī tafsīr qawlihi taʻālá (wa-udhkur fī al-Kitāb Mūsá) li-Ibn Kaykaldī al-ʻAlāʼī al-Shāfiʻī, al-mutawaffá sanat
• 761 H
• 7. Nubdhah fī bināʼ Dimashq al-Shām lil-Shaykh Ḥasan ibn Ibrāhīm al-Shāfiʻī al-Maydānī, al-maʻrūf bi-al-Bayṭār, al-mutawaffá sanat
• 1272 H.

Syria (which in its historical wider sense includes modern Syria, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine and Jordan) has always been at the centre of events of world importance. It was in this region that pastoral-stock rearing, settled agriculture and alphabetic writing were invented (and the dog domesticated). From Syria, Phoenician explorers set out to explore the whole Mediterranean region and sailed round Africa 2,000 years before Vasco de Gama. These are achievements enough but the succeeding centuries offer a rich tapestry of turbulent change, a cycle of repeated conquest, unification, rebellion and division. John D Grainger gives a sweeping overview (though replete with telling details) of the making of this historical region. From the end of the ice age through the procession of Assyrian, Phoenician, Persian, Greek, Roman, Arab, Turkish, French and British attempts to dominate this area, the key events and influences are clearly explained and analysed. The events playing out on our TV screens over recent years are put in the context of 12,000 years of history.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)