Syria's descent into chaos since 2011 has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives while more than nine million people have fled their homes In this timely account John Mc Hugo charts the history of Syria from the First World War to the present & considers why Syria's foundations as a nation have proved so fragile He examines the country's thwarted attempts at independence under French rule before turning to more recent events two generations of rule by the Assad family sectarian tensions the pressures that turned an aborted revolution into a proxy war & the appearance of ISIS As the conflict in Syria rages on Mc Hugo provides a rare & authoritative guide to a complex nation that demands our attention