Assad or We Burn the Country: How One Family's Lust for Power Destroyed Syria - Softcover

Sam Dagher has reported in the Middle East for more than fifteen years, most recently for The Atlantic. He was the only non-Syrian reporter for a major Western media outlet based in Damascus from 2012 to 2014, a period during which he was arrested by a pro Assad militia and briefly held in an underground mukhabarat (secret police) prison. He was later expelled from Syria for reporting deemed unfavorable to the regime. He has worked for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, and Agence France Presse, and has covered the conflict in Iraq, the Arab Spring uprisings, and Libya. The Wall Street Journal nominated Dagher's work from Syria for the Pulitzer Prize and other journalism awards.

"A vivid and powerful account of the roots and course of the conflict, setting it in the context of Assad's personal history and approach to power."―Washington Post

A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice Pick

"Dagher draws on history, interviews and his own experience as a reporter in Syria to depict an utterly ruthless regime."―The New York Times Book Review, Editor's Choice

"[An] impressively detailed account"―The Guardian US

"Sam Dagher's book Assad or We Burn the Country is a vivid and at times gruelling account of the suppression of the Syrian resistance...It is a powerful testimony of a war correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. His account carries the outrage and passion of a witness to atrocity."―Financial Times

"He was briefly held by pro-regime militiamen in an underground prison and was summarily expelled by the Mukhabarat in 2014. This gives his description of events a credibility lacking in many other accounts."―Patrick Cockburn, New York Times Book Review

"An important addition to the existing literature on the Middle East - especially Syria - by an astute Middle East watcher...It is absolutely indispensable to understand current Middle Eastern and Syrian situation."―The Washington Book Review

"As with so much of Dagher's writing, what's striking about the book is it doesn't just confirm the worst that's been reported about Assad's regime in the much-maligned "mainstream media;" it unearths new ways in which the horror and criminality are in fact more terrible than previously understood."―Alex Rowell, Al-Jumhuriya

"Drawing on years of reporting and interviews with those at the top of the Syrian regime, Sam Dagher's book is one that readers won't be able to put down."―Kerry Breen, TODAY Show

"As the only Western reporter based in Damascus during the early years of the civil war, Dagher has a rich perspective on the inner machinations of the regime of Bashar al Assad. In this important book, he lays out in grim detail the staggering cynicism and ruthless brutality of the Assad family. In doing so, he provides readers with a timely description of the dynasty that precipitated the destruction of a nation."―Clarissa Ward, Chief International Correspondent, CNN International