As a civil war shatters a country & consumes its people, historian Christian Sahner offers a poignant account of Syria, where the past profoundly shapes its dreadful present. Among the Ruins blends history, memoir & reportage, drawing on the author`s extensive knowledge of Syria in ancient, medieval, & modern times, as well as his experiences living in the Levant on the eve of the war & in the midst of the ` Arab Spring`. These plotlines converge in a rich narrative of a country in constant flux -- a place renewed by the very shifts that, in the near term, are proving so destructive. Sahner focuses on five themes of interest to anyone intrigued & dismayed by Syria`s fragmentation since 2011: the role of Christianity in society; the arrival of Islam; the rise of sectarianism & competing minorities; the emergence of the Ba`ath Party; & the current pitiless civil war. Among the Ruins is a brisk & illuminating read, an accessible introduction to a country with an enormously rich past & a tragic present. For anyone seeking to understand Syria, this book should be their starting point.