How the destruction of architectural treasures became a weapon in Syria’s ongoing civil war.

How the neoliberal urban development schemes of the Mubarak regime have gained new life under the Muslim Brotherhood.

Andrew Tabler’s In the Lion’s Den: An Eyewitness Account of Washington’s Battle With Syria; Steven Cook’s The Struggle for Egypt: From Nasser to Tahrir Square.

In Our Orbit: Tom Engelhardt’s The American Way of War.

Washington hawks have put the kibosh on Barack Obama’s ambassadorial appointment to Syria, further fueling skepticism in the Arab world about the "new beginning" he promised in Cairo last year.

Kai Bird’s Crossing Mandelbaum Gate is a meditation on the collective failure of Israelis and Palestinians to reconcile their histories of loss and victimhood.