Paperback out April 14, 2020

Sam Dagher reveals the family behind the destruction of a country and the chaos of an entire region

Assad or We Burn the Country

How One Family’s Lust for Power Destroyed Syria

In spring 2011, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad turned to his friend and army commander, Manaf Tlass, for advice about how to respond to Arab Spring-inspired protests. Tlass pushed for conciliation but Assad decided to crush the uprising — an act which would catapult the country into an eight-year long war, killing almost half a million and fueling terrorism and a global refugee crisis.

Assad or We Burn the Country examines Syria's tragedy through the generational saga of the Assad and Tlass families, once deeply intertwined and now estranged in Bashar's bloody quest to preserve his father's inheritance. By drawing on his own reporting experience in Damascus and exclusive interviews with Tlass, Dagher takes readers within palace walls to reveal the family behind the destruction of a country and the chaos of an entire region.

Read more
Photo Credit: Azita Panahpour

Sam Dagher has reported in the Middle East for more than sixteen years. He was the only Western reporter based in Damascus from 2012 to 2014, until being detained by Assad’s henchmen in an underground prison and expelled 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.

Read more

KIRKUS REVIEW BEST REPORTED BOOKS, ECONOMIST BOOK OF THE YEAR & NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE

“A moving and insightful account of the Syrian civil war—a conflict that has destroyed a country, reshaped the Middle East, and destabilised the entire global order.” (Read the full review)

-Yuval Noah Harari, THE GUARDIAN

“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.” (Read the full review)

-Anthony Dworkin, THE WASHINGTON POST

“Sam Dagher’s book Assad or We Burn the Country is a vivid and at times grueling account of the suppression of the Syrian resistance...It is a powerful testimony...Dagher's account carries the outrage and passion of a witness to atrocity.” (Read the full review)

-John Sawers, FINANCIAL TIMES

“Dagher draws on history, interviews and his own experience as a reporter in Syria to depict an utterly ruthless regime.” (Read the full review)

-NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

“With nonstop tension & timely, exclusive interviews, this is the perfect book...to understand the history behind one of the world’s most chaotic regions. Drawing on years of reporting and interviews with those at the top of the Syrian regime, Sam Dagher’s book is one readers won’t be able to put down”

-Today Show

Dive deeper with Sam's Journalism

With first-hand insights from reporting within Syria

Read All Articles

From the Blog

More on the Blog

Connect with Sam

Follow Sam Dagher