Bibliography: 7 Books to understand Syria

December 8, 2024 marks the fall of the regime of Bachar Al-Assad in Syria, almost a quarter of a century after the arrival of the dictator to power, who succeeded his father Hafez Al-Assad. To understand the state of a country at war for years and its political situation, Weekly Books selected seven essays, novels and comics.

• Lessons from the Syrian crisisby Fabrice Balanche (Odile Jacob). Published on March 6, 2024. Recipient of the 2024 Geopolitics book prize, Fabrice Balanche details the Syrian crisis by analyzing its internal causes, the course of the conflict and the play of external powers to try to understand what this political instability really means.

• Syria, the impossible revolution from Firas Kontar (Aldeia). Published on June 3, 2023. Franco-Syrian human rights activist, political scientist and jurist, Celebrated Accounts deciphers the Syrian conflict based on documents unknown to the general public and his own family history. It also raises awareness of the situation of Syrian refugees in France.

• The Book Smugglers of Daraya: A secret library in Syria by Delphine Minoui (Seuil). Published on September 20, 2017. This book tells the story of several Syrian men including Ahmad, Shadi, Hussam and Omar who, from 2011 and over four years, exhumed thousands of works buried under the rubble of the city of Daraya and created a library secret, symbol of peaceful resistance. The book received the Elle Readers' Grand Prize in 2018.

• Mahmoud or the rising waters by Antoine Wauters (Verdier). Published on August 26, 2021. This novel follows the story of a man who, aboard a boat on the artificial lake el-Assad where his childhood village is engulfed by water, remembers his previous life with his children before 'they don't go to war, his wife and his first love. The work won the Inter Book Prize in 2022.

• What good is the world anymore? Syria and us by Catherine Coquio (Sindbad). Published on September 28, 2022. In What good is the world anymore? Syria and us, Catherine Coquio examines the war in Syria and its impact on the entire world. It highlights the stories of Syrian writers who, despite destruction and despair, use literature to bear witness, resist and imagine a better future.

• The Arab of the future by Riad Sattouf (Books of the future). Volume 1 published in 2014. In the form of graphic novels divided into seven volumes, Riad Sattouf recounts his childhood spent between France, Libya and Syria in the 1970s-1980s, when Hafez Al-Assad, father of Bashar Al-Assad, was in power. Through his child's eyes, he observes cultural differences, life under authoritarian regimes and the sometimes confusing choices of his father from Syria.

• History of Syria by Xavier Baron (Tallandier). To be released January 9, 2025. In this work, the author returns to the various conflicts which have marked the history of Syria, from the Ottoman Empire, through the French occupation between the two world wars, and analyzes how this country is prey to a game between great powers.