Contents

Cover

Title Page

Dedication

Epigraph

Syria Map

Damascus Map

Inside the Palace

Outside the Palace

Introduction

  1.  You’re Next, Doctor

  2.  Embracing the Clouds

  3.  Creation and Punishment

  4.  Golden Knight

  5.  To Whom the Horses after You, Bassel?

  6.  New King and Early Spring

  7.  Hit Them Where It Hurts

  8.  Precious Interlocutor and Unavoidable Player

  9.  No More Fear after Today

10.  The Conspiracy

11.  Make Peace

12.  You’re Too Soft

13.  The Hama Manual

14.  Yalla Erhal Ya, Bashar! (Come On, Bashar, Leave!)

15.  Don’t Stay with the Butcher

16.  Blood on My Hands

17.  We Have to Win!

18.  Exiting

19.  No Role for You

20.  Holy War: At Your Service, O Bashar!

21.  The Clan’s Knights and Soothsayers

22.  Macabre Coronation

23.  A Game of Nations

24.  Abu Ali Putin

25.  Daesh or Bashar?

26.  Dictators Strike Back—but Hope Endures

Acknowledgments

Discover More

About the Author

Note on Characters

Notes