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This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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The book may have numerous typos or missing text. It is not illustrated or indexed. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website. You can also preview the book there.Purchasers are also entitled to a trial membership in the publisher's book club where they can select from more than a million books for free.Original Publisher: T. Nelson Publication date: 1871Subjects: Palestine; Syria; Bible; Shrines; History / General; History / Middle East / Israel; History / Middle East / General; Travel / Middle East / General; Travel / Middle East / Israel ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Ancient cities of the Bible
Written from at time when exploring the obscure places mentioned in the Bible took rare courage and some insight. ... Read more

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This book is about the land and people of parts of the interior of Syria and Jordan. At the beginning of the nineteenth century most of the people were nomads and only a small proportion of the land was cultivated. Today nomads are few, peasants are numerous and nearly all the land that will bear a crop is under cultivation. This study shows how the present situation came about as the state extended and strengthened its hold on the countryside, the economy of the country developed, landlords and peasants took up hitherto uncultivated land and nomads settled down to become farmers. The concluding chapters discuss the effects of population growth, mechanised farming and overgrazing on the semi-arid environment and its inhabitants. Norman Lewis combines geographical, historical and ethnographical material derived from an immense variety of sources, including unpublished manuscripts and fieldwork undertaken over a period of forty years. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (19)

Truth? Wrong Title
The title of this book should have been, "A Jewish Perspective on Syria" The truth? No history pre 1945. No political perspective from a Syrian point of view or Lebanese for that matter.
No mention of motives. Why Syria is the way it is or why the government does what it does. Rubin sounds like a bully in the school yard calling Hafiz, Bashar, Iran, Hizballah, Hamas, Kurds, Nasser and others "tinpot dictators", comic-villians that just runaround for no reason blowing people up. While saying NOTHING about the governments of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and others.
Double standards, no in-depth research or historical perspective is why this book is a poorly written editorial on "why Syria sucks".
Instead of buying this book just turn on Fox News, you will get the same information and you will save a couple of dollars.

Anatomy of a dictatorship
This book is in the style of academic books on the former Soviet Union or Nazi Germany--the anatomy of a dictatorship. Rubin details early Syrian politics, the rise to power as sole dictator of Hafez al-Assad and then the transfer of power to his son Bashar al-Assad. For those wishing to understand the internal dynamics of Syria this appears to be quite a good guide. I would urge caution, however, in reading the chapter on relations with Israel. Rubin writes with certainty and conviction, and some persuasion, that Ba'athist Syria is incapable of making peace with Israel. But he writes that Israel offered to return all of the Golan to Syria in exchange for peace and Assad turned Israel down. This is not true. Rabin made the offer provided that Syria was willing to offer full peace in exchange. But Peres broke off talks in the early spring of 1996 because Syria refused to condemn a terrorist attack and Barak wanted to adjust the border when his final offer was made to Assad by Clinton in March 2000. Dennis Ross blamed Assad's rejection of the offer on Assad's focus on assuring a smooth succession before his impending death from cancer. So Rubin's thesis regarding Israeli-Syrian peace has yet to be fully tested, contrary to what he writes. But I still urge those interested in Syria and Middle East peace to read this book.

non-academic perspective, a simple good start on Syria
I don't think we can ever claim that this type of book writing is objective. There may be objective dates and events, but one look at the title "The Truth About..." is enough to suggest that this book is the result of the author's experience of the region. His language is not academic and is filled with expressions that shout "this is my opinion". Therefore, it is pointless to make a judgement about his book based on his ethnic background.

In controversial topics like the one this book tackles, it's important to read as many books as possible from different authors, both academic and non-academic. I think that Barry Rubin has written an easy-read account of various events in Syrian and Middle Eastern recent history with this book.

What I got out of the book was that Syria has been a rogue state with very self-destructive internal policies. For decades, the regime has been run by elite that have focused on meddling into neighboring countries' affairs instead of addressing their own peoples' plights. Furthermore, this has been- possibly on purpose- largely ignored by the West especially by the US. I would argue that, with this book, Barry Rubin has attempted to call on to Western (particularly) American foreign policymakers to take a more effective and pro-active stance against Syria, instead of running after imaginary missions (a.k.a search for Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq).

I think the gist of the book is that the West has failed to identify the reasons why Palestine and Israel have not settled there differences for so long. And one real reason is interference from Syria.

Needs Many Sessions & Classes to Learn The TRUTH About Syria
Being a journalist who worked and covered Syria for more than 8 years, I assure you "The TRUTH About Syria" is a good example of the lack of knowledge on Syria. Truth is a very wrong word to use when we are driven by certain belief or political agenda.

I would love to ask Professor Rubin about the visits he paid to Syria and how long he lived there? Who was his fixer or assistants while Conducting his research? What kind of accessible information he had? How many interviews he did with key figures there? How many Syrians he met or knew? Well, I think Mr. Rubin has never been to Syria to entitle his book The TRUTH About Syria! If Mr. Rubin needs classes to learn about Syria, he is more than welcome! However, I don't think he is ready to learn THE TRUTH ABOUT SYRIA because he has blinders on.

Truth about Syria without visiting Syria?
This is yet another guided propaganda campaign hiding behind a specious façade of scholarly inquiry.The author's arguments are as worn-out as his fellow neo-conservative, ultra-Zionist's, doctrine.Such trajectories got their chance for 8 years to launch their wars and wreak their havoc, and now we are left with their carnage to clean-up in the Middle East and else where.After all these years, the world of politics has clearly shunned the likes of Rubin, and so should the world of academia.Moreover, can we really know "the truth about Syria" from a person who has never been to Syria?This book is as objective and valuable as a book entitled, say "The truth about America" by Osama bin Laden. ... Read more

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Webster's bibliographic and event-based timelines are comprehensive in scope, covering virtually all topics, geographic locations and people. They do so from a linguistic point of view, and in the case of this book, the focus is on "Syria," including when used in literature (e.g. all authors that might have Syria in their name). As such, this book represents the largest compilation of timeline events associated with Syria when it is used in proper noun form. Webster's timelines cover bibliographic citations, patented inventions, as well as non-conventional and alternative meanings which capture ambiguities in usage. These furthermore cover all parts of speech (possessive, institutional usage, geographic usage) and contexts, including pop culture, the arts, social sciences (linguistics, history, geography, economics, sociology, political science), business, computer science, literature, law, medicine, psychology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology and other physical sciences. This "data dump" results in a comprehensive set of entries for a bibliographic and/or event-based timeline on the proper name Syria, since editorial decisions to include or exclude events is purely a linguistic process. The resulting entries are used under license or with permission, used under "fair use" conditions, used in agreement with the original authors, or are in the public domain. ... Read more

Product Description
Webster's bibliographic and event-based timelines are comprehensive in scope, covering virtually all topics, geographic locations and people. They do so from a linguistic point of view, and in the case of this book, the focus is on "Syria," including when used in literature (e.g. all authors that might have Syria in their name). As such, this book represents the largest compilation of timeline events associated with Syria when it is used in proper noun form. Webster's timelines cover bibliographic citations, patented inventions, as well as non-conventional and alternative meanings which capture ambiguities in usage. These furthermore cover all parts of speech (possessive, institutional usage, geographic usage) and contexts, including pop culture, the arts, social sciences (linguistics, history, geography, economics, sociology, political science), business, computer science, literature, law, medicine, psychology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology and other physical sciences. This "data dump" results in a comprehensive set of entries for a bibliographic and/or event-based timeline on the proper name Syria, since editorial decisions to include or exclude events is purely a linguistic process. The resulting entries are used under license or with permission, used under "fair use" conditions, used in agreement with the original authors, or are in the public domain. ... Read more

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Mark Twain once famously said "there was but one solitary thing about the past worth remembering, and that was the fact that it is past and can't be restored."  Well, over recent years, The British Library, working with Microsoft has embarked on an ambitious programme to digitise its collection of 19th century books.

There are now 65,000  titles available  (that's an incredible 25 million pages) of material ranging from works by famous names such as  Dickens, Trollope and Hardy as well as many forgotten literary gems , all of which can now be printed on demand and purchased right here on Amazon.

Further information on The British Library and its digitisation programme can be found on The British Library website. ... Read more

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General Books publication date: 2009Original publication date: 186?Original Publisher: C. ScribnerSubjects: BibleSyriaItalyGreecePalestineHistory / Ancient / GreeceHistory / Middle East / GeneralReligion / Biblical Reference / GeneralTravel / Europe / GreeceTravel / Europe / ItalyTravel / Essays ... Read more

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"A lucid account of Hafiz Al-Asad's rise from poverty as a member of the despised Alawite sect in Syria; climbing to the top of the Syrian political heap through luck and pluck, finesse and murder, and more."—Voice of Youth Advocates ... Read more