The Tragedy of Syria

Extract

SEALE and Kerr, the authors of the two books under review, have covered between them a series of events from 1945 until 1964, but they have done so from quite different points of view. Seale's book, entitled The Struggle for Syria, covers the period from 1945 until 1958, while Kerr's, The Arab Cold War, covers the period from 1958 until 1964. The struggle for Syria that Seale describes is supposed to be a struggle between Egypt and Iraq, but the cold war that Kerr describes is a war of ideology, and perhaps one of wills, between Egypt's President Nasser and the leaders of the Syrian Ba'th party. Although both authors include a reference to dates in the titles of their books, the chronological element is not equally important in both. Seale's work is a review of the high points of Syrian politics through the period indicated, whereas Kerr is primarily concerned with a summary and analysis of the unity talks that took place between Nasser and the Ba'th leaders in 1963.