David W Lesch: 7 books

When Syrian President Bashar al-Assad came to power upon his father's death in 2000, many in- and outside Syria held high hopes that the popular young doctor would bring long-awaited reform, that he would be a new kind of Middle East leader capable of guiding his country toward genuine democracy. David...

In this timely book, David Lesch-one of the only Westerners well acquainted with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad-sheds new light on the ophthalmologist-turned-tyrant and how his regime has failed his country. For this updated edition, Lesch has added an epilogue that discusses the formation of the...

The Middle East and the United States brings together scholars and policy experts to provide an empirical and balanced assessment of US policy in the Middle East primarily from the end of World War I to the present. Carefully edited by David W. Lesch and Mark L. Haas, this text provides a broad and...

Today Syria is a country known for all the wrong reasons: civil war, vicious sectarianism, and major humanitarian crisis. But how did this once rich, multi-cultural society end up as the site of one of the twenty-first century’s most devastating and brutal conflicts? In this incisive book,...

In 2011, massive protest movements that appeared to come out of nowhere caught the Arab world’s autocrats by surprise and brought down powerful leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen. Thousands of Syrians took to the streets in March 2011 calling for the “fall of the regime,” the popular...

This volume addresses the changes in the Middle East—and in the United States as well—that has significantly affected the US-Middle Eastern dynamic. It provides an objective, cross-cultural assessment of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.

The Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the continuing US-Iraqi confrontation, the changing political dynamics in Iran, recent Pakistani-Indian hostilities and Osama bin Laden-all of these have one important common denominator: Significant strands of their origins can be traced to the tumultuous year of 1979. This text offers a new paradigm for stud