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After years of diplomatic isolation Syria is emerging from the cold. Its government is a key Middle Eastern player, and will be a major element of any possible comprehensive Middle Eastern peace deal.
 
To visit Syria is to become acquainted with one of the most rewarding destinations in the Middle East. Its historic attractions are stunning, and the Syrians are proud and gracious hosts; you can expect to be treated like a person and not just a tourist.  Of course, there are always thorns with the roses: Syria’s economy is inefficient, and its youth are frustrated; the strong-man political system that has held the country together does not encourage public intellectual life, but nor does it prevent young Syrians from debating with passion in private. The Syrian sense of tradition has preserved some of the bad along with the good, and society remains highly patriarchal. Despite such drawbacks, this is a country that’s rich not only in resources, but also, and especially, in its people.
 
American author Sarah Standish looks at Syria’s long history and its present-day political realities. She describes the many subgroups that make up the population as well as what unites all Syrians. She offers practical tips for traveling and on what to expect when conducting business. You’ll learn how people communicate with each other, and how you can communicate with them. The Syrians will never stop surprising you: get to know a few, and they will turn the stereotypes inside out several times over.

Product Description
"The CultureShock!" series is a dynamic and indispensable range of guides for those travellers who are looking to truly understand the countries they are visiting. Each title explains the customs, traditions, social and business etiquette in a lively and informative style."CultureShock!" authors, all of whom have experienced the joys and pitfalls of cultural adaptation, are ideally placed to provide warm and informative advice to those who seek to integrate seamlessly into diverse cultures. The books in this series have a friendly and honest writing style and are full of personal experiences, practical advice and useful information.Each "CultureShock!" book contains: insights into the people and their culture and traditions; advice on adapting into the local environment; linguistic help and hints on how to learn the language and do business; a useful list of foreign words and phrases and a comprehensive resource guide; how to get the most out of your travel experience; About "CultureShock!"; Table of Contents; Introduction/Preface/Acknowledgements/Dedication; and, Map - First Impressions, Overview of Land and History, People, Fitting into Society/Socialising with the Locals, Settling In, Food and Entertainment, Enjoying the Culture/Travel, Learning the Language, Doing Business, and Fast Facts.This book also contains: Culture Quiz; Do's and Don'ts; Glossary; Resource Guide; Further Reading; About the Author; Expatriate workers settling into a new assignment in a foreign land. They could be single or married with and without families; Visitors planning a long-term stay in a foreign country for other reasons other than work e.g. students, short-term overseas attachment, volunteer workers etc.; Tourists who are more interested in getting to know the culture and people of a country than the usual tourist spots; and, Inquisitive armchair travellers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Culture Shock Syria: Excellent
When I worked in Damascus, the director of the office asked me to read and review this excellent guide to Syria and Syrian culture.

He praised the book.As a Spanish expatriate, 10 years resident in Syria, fluent in Arabic, married to a Syrian woman, with Syrian children, he told me he had learned much by reading the Culture Shock guide.

And as I read the chapters, I saw page after page of text describing my own experiences in Damascus and Syria.

Marvelous.I recommend this guide to anyone visiting Syria.I bought my own copy when I returned to the United States.

( And the text includes a very quick explication of the Arabic language.A good introduction to Arabic language students. The value of those few pages repays the price of the guide. )

However, there are sections requiring updating.Be prepared for changes.

Even though thousands of years of the past remain on every street, Damascus is now accelerating into the 21st century. I encourage foreigners to visit Damascus before towers of glass and stainless steel replace the past.

I also encourage students of the Arabic language to study Arabic in Damascus.As stated again and again in Culture Shock: Syria, the Syrian people welcome Americans and enjoy their acquaintance.

An American professor / student of Arabic in Damascus

very oriented and a little outdated
Very North American oriented book, some interesting and accurate economic informations (to open your company in Syria for example). Some funny quiz about social situations, but globally outdated, new laws since two years are not included, prices have changed, as well as services, especially in the Old City.
Unless it's soon uptaded, and you come from Canada or the States; I would not really recommend it.

One of the great lands of the Arab and Muslim World
The country of Syria means a lot to me, bacause I have been their six times already to visit family and have enjoyed each visit, Second it is a wonderful country to visit, learn, and study about, because in Syria there a lot of interesting groups of people to learn and get to know about like the Arabs, Kurds, Armenians, Turkmens, Circassians, and the Jews.

Dated "shock"
I've just returned from a month long stay in Syria where I traveled throughout the country.During my travels I met many interesting people young and old and from every political persuasion.All were extremely friendly to me as an American and stated that they viewed the American government (read Bush) differently from the American people.I was very disappointed in how out of date the Cultural Shock book was in almost all areas.The country is no where near as conservative as you would be led to believe by this text.On many occasions I couldn't believe that he was writing about the same country as I visited.I read the book before I went and then reread it upon return.I wouldn't recommend this book because it is so very dated.An added point: I have traveled extensively in the middle east and am very familiar with the history and cultures. of many of the countries.This book sorely needs updating!!!

A very accurate description of what to expect
I found this book to be 97% accurate of what my experiences were for the week I spent in Damascus and immediate areas. I highly recommend anyone planning a trip to Syria to use this book as a guide to understandingSyrian customs. Coleman South's attention to the details of everyday lifehelped immensely. The Syrian people were indeed friendly and became evenmore so when they found out I was an American. I would only add that sinceCulture Shock: Syria! was written, information access is widespread, asjudged by the forest of satellite dishes seen on rooftops and CNN in myhotel rooms. ... Read more

Product Description
In February 2001 Scott C. Davis flew to Damascus, attended raucous political salons, talked all night, and sat in local cafes debating the nature of the evolving Syrian nation. Such openness was new in Syria. Was it a sign of things to come? Would the Damascene Curtain fall as heavily and permanently as did the Berlin Wall? Would Damascus become another tourist trap bursting with American franchise restaurants, another Amman? To answer these questions, and to give a feel for the real country beneath the rapidly changing surfaces, Davis tells a story of an earlier time when Syrians did not discuss politics for fear of the 'mukhabarat' and when some hesitated, in their own homes, even to mention the name of the Syrian president. Fourteen years earlier, in October 1987, Davis had come to Damascus and begun a slow, difficult journey through Syrian society. He met artists and intellectuals, wealthy landowners, retired mystics, and also slept on the floor beside humble peasants and working folk. The times were quiet, jobs scarce, and ordinary folk could take a few moments for tea with a guest. Many of those Davis met took pride in their own simplicity.Denied political power and wealth, they aspired instead to wisdom - or at least to perfecting a sardonic wit. This tale of grace, humour, and humanity turns on the author's search for truth and, also, for a few good quotes for his book - a search that took him across Syria in the footsteps of Alexander to the ancient Roman Bridge over the Tigris River in the far eastern tip of the country - and then brought him racing back to Damascus to find the Patriarch of Antioch. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Before there were blogs....
Davis' travelogue of his two visits to Syria would have been much more appropriate as an amateur travel blog than a +200 page book. Davis tends to sensationalize the stories of his first visit to Syria in order to create suspense and excitement. Most of his "captivating" encounters stem from his inherent and unfounded suspicions of the Syrian police and the fact he does not know a lick of Arabic. Perhaps this review is overly critical, but, in my opinion the genre of privileged Westerners heading off to some "intimidating" and "unknown" foreign land for a few months and then writing about their experiences has been overdone.

Good Quality Companionship
In 1987, the author boarded a flight to Damascus to spend three months pursuing a dream as a travel writer. No hotels-and-sightseeing dilettante, he kept extensive notes as he traveled the streets and visited homes and offices in a country that in that year was far more security-conscious than the one he found when he returned in early 2001. He writes candidly, sometimes quoting at too much length, but quickly shows himself to be good company for a reader. His intrepid honesty and sincere desire to illuminate grassroots realities of a nation too often branded with stereotypes are admirable. DD

Road from Damascus to Ft. Worth
This book proves why a person needs to check out local bookstores when traveling - small presses often do not have the distribution network that good writers deserves.I live near Ft. Worth but found this book at the Pike Street Market in Seattle.I started reading it on the airplane going home and found it hard to put down.The paperback version is so attractively packaged that I did not realize when I purchased it that it was written and published locally in Seattle.Everything the other reviewers have said about the book is true.It is a very worthwhile and entertaining read.There is fuel for plenty of great arguments about "what it all means."Buy it!

Road from Damascus to Ft. Worth
This book proves why a person needs to check out local bookstores when traveling - small presses often do not have the distribution network that good writers deserves.I live near Ft. Worth but found this book at the Pike Street Market in Seattle.I started reading it on the airplane going home and found it hard to put down.The paperback version is so attractively packaged that I did not realize when I purchased it that it was written and published locally in Seattle.Everything the other reviewers have said about the book is true.It is a very worthwhile and entertaining read.There is fuel for plenty of great arguments about "what it all means."Buy it!

Syria at Street Level
Scott Davis' wonderful The Road from Damascus is a treat.
I have found it difficult to put a face on this area of the world, to actually get a sense of how citizens of the Middle East live, work and think. Davis gives the reader a ground-floor vantage. Introducing the reader to the Syrians, young and old, male and female, who sat next to him on rickety busses. Met with him at monastaries. And introduced him to their families, their art, their culture. The Syrian secret police are neververy far from the author and rarely out of his thoughts. Which adds to tension that drives this journey through Syria and kept me turning pages.

Nota big fan of "travel" books, I found this one to be seasoned with the author's integrity, humor and affection for the Syrian people. Which made it most enjoyable. ... Read more

Product Description
How does a Middle Eastern community create a modern image through its expression of heritage and authenticity? In Among the Jasmine Trees: Music and Modernity in Contemporary Syria, Jonathan H. Shannon investigates expressions of authenticity in Syria's musical culture, which is particularly known for embracing and preserving the Arab musical tradition, and which has seldom been researched in depth by Western scholars. Music plays a key role in the process of self-imaging by virtue of its ability to convey feeling and emotion, and Shannon explores a variety of performance genres, Sufi rituals, song lyrics, melodic modes, and aesthetic criteria. Shannon shows that although the music may evoke the old, the traditional, and the local, these are re-envisioned as signifiers of the modern national profile. A valuable contribution to the study of music and identity and to the ethnomusicology of the modern Middle East, Among the Jasmine Trees details this music and its reception for the first time, offering an original theoretical framework for understanding contemporary Arab culture, music, and society. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Culture Wars? Music within National Self-Image
Jonathan Holt Shannon, author of this book, is an anthropologist whose research uses the performance, forms, and religious, political, and social aspects of music as the focus to examine the roles of traditions or heritage versus and modernity in Syria specifically, and also among Levantine Arabs. The conservative forces of authenticity are in conflict with the often liberal elite views of incorporating modern, i.e., European or Western classical and popular, structures in music. The problem arises from the very existence of Syria as a relatively new nation (1946)carved out of the centuries old Ottoman Empire. For a Mediterranean area at the crossroads of empires, East and West, authenticity is a highly moot matter among indigenous scholars, critics, and musicians. Aside some agrarian folk tunes and dances, perhaps, how much of Arabian music is truly Arabian when Turkish, Persian, Byzantine, Kurdish, Andalusian, and Syriac Christian influences are found? Even the oud is closely related to the Chinese pipa, lutes having developed, shared, and adopted along the length of the Silk Road. This book seems to present more questions than answers: a very good thing, since Orientialism and stereotypes have influenced Arabs and Western scholars alike. Even the number, names, and origins of maqam modes are debated.

Scholarly but highly readable, Among the Jasmin Trees is a perfect follow-up book to Racy's Making Music in the Arab World, Waugh's Memory, Music, and Religion, and Marcus's survey and documentary CD, Music in Egypt. The scholar-musician tells delightful anecdotes, and interviews with many Syrian experts send him, and us, on a grand tour of the complex musical and cultural issues confronting this people. If these questions seems esoteric and not germane to our own contemporary life, consider when and how the United States developed its own unique American (not including Native American) music after 1776. This surprising, worthwhile book has lessons for us as well. After reading it, Arabic music is no longer a simple category.

A treat to read.
This book on music and people deals with authenticity and its construction in a place where music is much more than just music.Scholarly in its orientation, it is written so clearly that one needn't be an ethnomusicologist or anthropologist to read it.It has important implications for the way that we all approach the aesthetics of our identity.

The jasmine is sweet.
This is a beautifully written book that illuminates many aspects of Syrian music and culture. I will teach it often in my graduate and undergraduate courses. ... Read more

Product Description

Syria has served as a major crossroads in the Middle East since prehistoric times, leaving it open to change and passing customs from other societies. Syria's melting pot of cultures has led it to become an ethnically diverse country, sometimes leading to turbulence among other countries as well as within its own borders. Focusing on contemporary traditions, topics such as religion, cuisine, fashion, music, and art unveil Syria's true modern-day culture. Readers will discover how Syrians live today-what they eat, what they wear, and how they celebrate life in today's conflicted Middle East. Ideal for high school students and general readers, Culture and Customs of Syria serves as a staple for all library shelves.

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The formula `for the life of' is often found in votive inscriptions, castin Aramaic and other languages, which originate from the Syrian-Mesopotamiandesert and adjacent areas and which roughly date from the first threecenturies A.D. They belong to objects like statues and altars that usuallywere erected in temples and other structures with a ritual or sacred function.The inscriptions establish a relationship between the dedicator andone ormore beneficiaries, those persons for whose life the dedication was made.Since the social context evidently bears on both the meaning of theinscriptions as well as the status of the dedications, this volume deals withthe nature of the relationships and the socio-religious function thededications perform. ... Read more

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This volume asks fundamental questions about the political impact of cultural institutions by exploring the power struggles for control over such institutions in Syria and Lebanon under French Mandate rule. Countering assertions of French imperial cultural ascendancy and self-confidence, the author demonstrates the diverse capacities of Arab and other local communities, to forge competing cultural identities that would, in later years, form the basis for rising political self-enfranchisement.

Drawing on a wide array of written sources and oral testimonies, the author illuminates how political and religious leaders fought to harness the force of culture through projects as diverse as schools, cinema, scouting, and tourism. These leaders were to be found not only in the French colonial administration or the burgeoning Syrian and Lebanese parliaments, but also in student societies, missionary congregations, and philanthropic organizations. The author pays particular attention to the last decade of French rule before Syrian and Lebanese independence as a critical time of transition and debate.

The rich individual histories of institutions such as the American University of Beirut, the secular French Mission laique, or the Jesuit missionaries come together in a broader narrative that speaks to the ongoing Syrian and Lebanese journeys toward national identity. ... Read more

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This authoritative and sweeping compendium, the second volume in Getzel Cohen's organized survey of the Greek settlements founded or refounded in the Hellenistic period, provides historical narratives, detailed references, citations, and commentaries on all the settlements in Syria, The Red Sea Basin, and North Africa from 331 to 31 BCE. Organized geographically, the volume pulls together discoveries and debates from dozens of widely scattered archaeological and epigraphic projects. Cohen's magisterial breadth of focus enables him to provide more than a compilation of information; the volume also contributes to ongoing questions and will point the way toward new avenues of inquiry. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (4)

A useful and engaging work on contemporary Syria.
This engaging and often witty work asks the basic question, "how do rituals and symbols that are widely understood to be false or absurd help to support a regime?"Her answers help to complicate our understanding of the relationship between state symbolism and legitimacy in authoritarian states.

Happily, the value of this work is not limited to political theory. Indeed, for most readers, these theoretical issues will be secondary to the insights and observations Wedeen offers regarding the workings of the brutal and repressive Syrian regime.Her authorial tone is wry and, despite its theoretical sophistication, this is an easy work to read.In particular, her reliance on everyday communications and popular media and the breadth of examples she provides bring Syrian society to life in a way that few academic works have.

Analysis of Syria's pseudo-cult of personality
When I first traveled to Syria in the late 90's, I found the eerie, creepy phenomenon of what Wedeen terms Syria's state cult to be the most inscrutable, absurd and mind-boggling feature of the entire land-scape.After Asad's death, the succession of his son, Bashar, saw the ubiquity of his father's visage decline noticeably but still it did by no means disappear.

Wedeen's work does forcefully and with keen insight what I once thought was impossible.Though known to be patently absurd by all Syrians, inside and outside the elite, Wedeen argues cogently that this cult in its own way reinforces power for the state by demarcating the boundaries of political practice 'as if'...i.e., politics in Syria are to be practiced AS IF the cult expresses reality.Her analysis also broadens to include investigations of the vast amount of state resources squandered on the cult and the circumscribed efforts to resist and protest the gov't.Highly recommended reading for anyone studying the modern Middle East.

Brilliant
One of the best studies I have ever read on the nature of power and domination.Wedeen asks the simple question of how Asad is able to keeppower in Syria when all of the people know that all of the state propagandais false.Her elegant answer gets right to the heart of what makes a rulerpowerful.Asad rules not through totalitarianism, but throughauthoritarianism.What's the difference?A ruler who controls everythingthat the people think (like in North Korea) is not really dominating them,they just don't know any better.But a ruler like Asad rules because thepeople fear him and become unable to dissent as a result of Foucault-iandiscursive practices.

This book will facinate anyone interested in themodern Middle East or the nature of power.

Ground-breaking!
A ground-breaking exploration of the subtle ways power operates to structure everyday life.Rich in ethnographic detail and eloquently written.Definitely worth _much_ more than $17.A worthy read, not justfor people interested in contemporary Middle Eastern politics, but forthose interested in issues of power, discipline and resistance.Ms. Wedeenis a rising star in the field of Political Science.Bravo!! ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from The Journal of the American Oriental Society, published by Thomson Gale on July 1, 2004. The length of the article is 928 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The God Dagan in Bronze Age Syria.(The God Dagan in Bronze Age Syria: Culture and History of the Ancient Near East, vol. 19)(Book Review)
Author: Gary Beckman
Publication: The Journal of the American Oriental Society (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2004
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 124Issue: 3Page: 586(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Scholarship performance!
Redford's treatment of the wars of Thutmose III in the Levant comprise (to my knowledge) one of the first systematic studies to such a difficult subject.The material and composition is rendered in such a way that its very useful to all academics but I would generally sugest the interested public steer away from this one for awhile.Get the basics and see how Redford draws connections and lays out historical studies at their best! ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Countries and Their Cultures, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 2312 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Covers the broad range of popular religious culture of the United States at the close of the twentieth century. Beliefs, practices, symbols, traditions, movements, organizations, and leaders from the many traditions in the pluralistic American community are represented. Also includes cults and phenomena that drew followers, such as Heaven's Gale and UFOs. ... Read more

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Chapters: Cinema of Syria, Festivals in Syria, Holidays in Syria, Languages of Syria, Museums in Syria, National Symbols of Syria, Religion in Syria, Sport in Syria, Syrian Artists, Syrian Cuisine, Syrian Literature, Syrian Media, Syrian Music, Arabic Language, Eagle, Kurdish Language, Halloumi, Elagabalus, Halva, Western Armenian Language, Mate, Freedom of Religion in Syria, Shawarma, Kebab, Kitab Al-I'tibar, Ugaritic Language, Kurdish Music, Baqashot, Samosa, North Syrian Arabic, Christianity in Syria, Biryani, 2008 Arab Capital of Culture, Pizmonim, Adyghe Language, Weekly Maqam, Turoyo Language, Levantine Arabic, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, Ka'ak, Thursday of the Dead, Kha B-Nisan, Eggplant Salads and Appetizers, Flag of Syria, Domari Language, Tabbouleh, Western Neo-Aramaic, Tahini, Semolina, Salep, Khan As'ad Pasha, Azm Palace, Cathedral of Our Lady of Tortosa, Homat El Diyar, Sureth, What Do I Say?, National Museum of Aleppo, Literature of Syria, Arab Salad, de Dea Syria, Baba Ghanoush, Dox Box, Media of Syria, List of Syrian Artists, Ful Medames, Assyrian/syriac Folk Music, Mulukhiyah, Ayran, Iraqi Arabic, Fatta, National Museum of Damascus, Mujaddara, Public Holidays in Syria, Coat of Arms of Syria, Mahlab, Fattoush, Shish Taouk, Polvorón, North Mesopotamian Arabic, Baharat, Ma'amoul, Manakish, Damascus Opera House, Freekeh, Shanklish, Bedawi Arabic, Najdi Arabic, Music of Syria, Nur Al-Din Bimaristan, Martyrs' Day, Damascus International Film Festival, Syrian Chant, List of Syrian Films, Kibbeh Nayyeh, Maqluba, Nabulsi Cheese, Fried Cauliflower, Lomavren Language, Akkawi, Palmyrene, Muhammara, Arab Cinema, Maktab Anbar, Markook, Shishbarak, Fried Aubergine, Kousa Mahshi, Jibneh Arabieh, Evacuation Day, Resalat Al-Ghufran, Syrian Cheese, Makdous, Syrian Olympic Committee, Syrian Arab News Agency, Baladi Cheese, Jallab, Syrianization. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 422. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a fre...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=803 ... Read more

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237 pages book ... Read more