This Must Be The Podcast: Daniel Neep
I've been running a bit ragged lately, with a lot of travel to various talks and workshops and a number of pressing deadlines. I should have quite a bit of interesting stuff to share next week! For this week, just the podcast and a couple of videos from recent talks - If you find them useful, please please please buy my book America's Middle East; recommend it to your friends, book clubs, students, or anyone else who might be interested; and let me know if you're interested in hosting a virtual or in-person talk, always happy to do what I can.
The Podcast
Daniel Neep's Syria: A Modern History is a really wonderful and important book which should become a fixture of syllabi and reading lists about the country. Neep draws on a very wide range of primary source materials, including Arabic language memoirs and newspapers, to tell the story of Syrian politics from the perspective of Syrians rather than colonial administrators or outside powers. While the book is built on rigorous historiographical research and keen analytical judgement, it helps that Neep is a great storyteller. He brings Syrian politics to life, offering fresh insights into familiar historical moments and bringing mostly forgotten episodes onto center stage – I was particularly fascinated by his account of the United Arab Republic (1958-61), told from within the broader context of Syrian political battles and economic transformations. And he identifies recurrent themes in Syrian politics which are shaping the post-Assad transformation.
Listen to my conversation with Daniel Neep here:
Plus More Videos!
Yesterday, I did an hour long webinar for WorldOregon (the Oregon World Affairs Council) about my recent book America's Middle East and the current war. I have a couple of articles in the works fleshing out the argument, but for now if you're interested in my reading of the US-Israeli war with Iran in the context of my book you can check out the video:
I gave a talk on the same topic at Northwestern's Buffett Institute last week, and that video has now been posted. It gives a longer presentation of the book and a detailed (and only slightly dated) reading of the war.
