Less than twenty-four months after the hope-filled Arab uprising, the popular movement had morphed into a dystopia of resurgent dictators, failed states, & civil wars. Egypt`s epochal transition to democracy ended in a violent military coup. Yemen & Libya collapsed into civil war, while Bahrain erupted in smothering sectarian repression. Syria proved the greatest victim of all, ripped apart by internationally fueled insurgencies & an externally supported, bloody-minded regime. Amidst the chaos, a virulently militant group declared an Islamic State, seizing vast territories & inspiring terrorism across the globe. What happened? The New Arab Wars is a profound illumination of the causes of this nightmare. It details the costs of the poor choices made by regional actors, delivers a scathing analysis of Western misreadings of the conflict, & condemns international interference that has stoked the violence. Informed by commentators & analysts from the Arab world, Marc Lynch`s narrative of a vital region`s collapse is both wildly dramatic & likely to prove definitive. Most important, he shows that the region`s upheavals have only just begun--and that the hopes of Arab regimes & Western policy makers to retreat to old habits of authoritarian stability are doomed to fail.