Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East [Paperback]

Patrick Seale (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 1990

"This is a book in the finest tradition of investigative scholarship. The research is awesome. . . . Seale's great strength is his ability to explain the confusing kaleidoscopic nature of Middle Eastern diplomacy. He understands the game being played and also knows the players. . . . [An] impressive book."--Los Angeles Times Book Review

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

British journalist Seale ( The Struggle for Syria ) here fashions a political portrait of President Hafiz al-Asad that emphasizes his patience, caution and courage without obscuring his conspiratorial past or his selective ruthlessness. He describes Asad's rise from peasant origins to national leadership in a bloodless coup, analyzes the view from Damascus of Syria's role in the wars with Israel and Asad's continuing efforts to block piecemeal settlements with Israel by other Arab countries. Double-crossed, according to Seale, by his Egyptian partner Anwar Sadat during the 1973 October War, Asad was then "duped" by Henry Kissinger's shuttle diplomacy and "robbed" of the fruits of the war. Asad is quoted as claiming that his goal is not Syrian supremacy but a balance of power, and that a fair peace will come about only when the Arabs achieve strategic parity with the Jewish state. An admiring but not uncritical biography of Israel's most dangerous enemy, this book sheds light on an enigmatic leader. Photos.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

More than an excellent biography of Hafiz al-Asad, Syria's national leader, this is a tour de force of contemporary Syrian history and politics. Seale, a Middle Eastern specialist and a journalist, had direct access to Asad. Here is a clear successor to Seale's near monumental The Struggle for Syria (1965) and a substantial companion to Moshe Ma'oz's Asad: The Sphinx of Damascus; A Political Biography ( LJ 9/15/88). Seale perceives Asad as a masterful politician maneuvering Syria into a position of dominance in the Middle East and uncovers much of the mystery that has surrounded the Syrian leader by documenting Asad's interactions, directly and indirectly, with national and regional leaders. Well recommended and indeed required reading for anyone interested in the contemporary Middle East.
- Sanford R. Silverburg, Catawba Coll . , Salisbury, N.C.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (January 11, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520069765
• ISBN-13: 978-0520069763
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.2 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #538,398 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #52 in Books > History > Middle East > Syria

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Biased but only source of information about Assad. April 22, 2001

By A. Hassan

Format:Paperback

Until I got this book I had never read anything about Hafiz al-Asad, the man who ruled Syria with a metal fist for so long it seems for ever. This is basically the sole source of information about this man who liked to stay in the dim light until the day he died. To say that the book is not biased and pro-Assad would be inaccurate. In many parts the author has done his best to "walk the rope" as the Arabian saying implies, that is not to annoy Assad while trying to appear objective and neutral. This is a must read for anyone genuinely interested in learning about the complexities of power struggles in the Middle East. The book stays away from the gory details, and I agree with one of the reviewers that it does not unmask the ugly side(s) of modern Syria under the role of Assad. This gets three stars for being a good reseach piece and for being able to document many interesting details kept hidden for years about the life of Assad and his rule. After reading this book many of the truth that were kept masked about Syria are still not unmasked, and leaves more questions to be asked, of which will it ever be revealed. Two stars off for this disappoinment. I would have put at least one star back if this was noted by the author.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as objective as possible May 22, 2007

By Hussain Abdul-Hussain

Format:Paperback

This is probably the only available biography of late Syrian President Hafez Assad. Keep in mind that Seale was given all that he had asked for - like many other Western scholars who were treated to the court and became apologetic to the regime - to write this book which makes him, so to speak, the spokesperson of the presidential court. Even though Seale reports about the many murders that happened during the career of Assad, he does so from an apologetic perspective. Assad is always depicted as having to kill before his adversaries kill him. While this could be true in the context of tribal Arab politics, it relieves Assad of all of the responsibilities of the killings that happened during his reign.

Additionally, the book lacks proper investigative methodology.

Things are narrated from the eyes of Assad, with some minimal background. When Seale talks about Assad's brother Rifaat who tried to replace his brother through a coups d'etats in the early 80s, for example, Seale gives an account about Rifaat that could have only been written after Rifaat had fallen out with his brother and was sent to exile. Rifaat is described as a hot tempered gangster kid since his early childhood who used to carry a stick and bully his peers. While reports about Rifaat's atrocities during his rule under his brother should not be undermined, stories about Rifaat's innate hot temper should be taken with a grain of salt. If this book was written during the days of Rifaat while still in favor with his brother, then a different account would have probably been produced about the president's brother. Additionally, the sources are limited and often not thoroughly cross examined to establish their credibility when writing the history of Syria's dictator.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars fascinating and informative October 19, 1998

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Although this book purports to be a biography of Asad, it is really a whirlwind tour of 20th-century Syrian history. The book's main focus is on its foreign relations with the Middle East, the Soviet Union, and the United States. With clarity and insight, Seale details such seminal events as the Arab-Israeli wars of 1967 and 1973, the Middle East peace process, and the Gulf Wars. Seale provides the perfect balance of explanation and analysis while never getting bogged down in useless detail. Useful analyses of such key figures as Sadat, Begin, and Sharon are just as relevant today as they were when this book was written. His detailing of Asad's relationship with Kissinger is enough to make the reader cringe for, unfortunately, Kissinger's duplicity and manipulations were not limited to such places as Chile,Kurdistan,etc. This book is invaluable for its enumeration on the political situation in the Middle East. Valuable to the reader struggling to gain an overall understanding of the Middle East, this book also shrewdly portrays Asad's rise to power both in his own country and in the Middle East.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars An impressive, if heavily biased, scholarly work July 6, 2007

By R. Green

Format:Paperback

This book is already nearing 20 years in age, so much has already been said about its portrayal of modern Near East geopolitics. Anyone interested in this subject matter should read this book, as it is provides valuable insight into events within Syria, throughout the region, and across the world that shaped the relationships between Arab states themselves and with Israel as witnessed in the late 20th century. Much has occured since and it is interesting to speculate how Seale would have woven into the narrative, among other major events, Jordan's 1994 treaty with Israel, as Assad long prided himself on thwarting such an agreement. (Granted, Seale's ongoing journalistic activities offer plenty of insight into his perspectives on most any regional developments.)

Seale's research is exhaustive and paints a fascinating picture of a man who seized and retained power in a complex, volatile country and who thrust himself into one of the most divisive and enigmatic conflicts facing the world today. Unfortunately, this book must be regarded as the romantic (harsher critics may say sycophantic) chronicling of Syrian and Arab nationalism that it is. There can be no doubt that Seale is vehemently opposed to Israeli values and worldview, and to a lesser degree those of the United states and other Western powers. Seale characterizes Israel as continually exercising an almost Svengali influence on the West, able to unilaterally bend the wills of its more powerful allies and impose nefarious designs upon the entire Arab world. His attitude toward terrorism is forgiving to say the least, not to mention his argument that the West's fear of terrorism is a function of Israeli "psychological warfare" rather than a true international reality and utmost national security priority.... Seale is also reluctant to hold Assad accountable for his diplomatic failures and military defeats, but is rather wont to characterize the venerable pan-Arab leader as simply a victim of external circumstance.

So long as one is able to distill much of these biases (or at least acknowledge their influence on the reporting), Seale's book constitutes a uniquely detailed survey of modern Syrian history in the vital context of regional conflicts that have defined it. Read more ›