• PrefacePART ONE: THE REVOLUTIONARY1 Coming Down the Mountain2 The French Legacy3 Party School and Army College4 The Peasants' Revolt5 The Cairo Conspiracy6 Capturing the State7 Capturing the Party8 Blindly to the Brink9 The Six Day Walkover10 The Fight to the Top11 The Black September FiascoPART TWO: THE LEADER12 Asad's State13 Sadat, the Unsound Ally14 The October Illusion15 Duel with Henry Kissinger16 1975: The Year Things Fell Apart17 The Lebanese Trap18 Jimmy Carter's False Dawn19 The Enemy Within20 Standing Alone21 Ally of the Ayatollah22 Battle with Menachem Begin23 The Defeat of George Shultz24 The Brothers' War (revised 1995)25 Forging a Nation26 Dirty Tricks27 Conclusions: the Balance SheetNotesSelect BibliographyIndex

"There is much for the student of the Middle East to appreciate and digest in Asad. . . . It offers valuable insight into the development and thinking of this hard man, whose stubborn desire to stay at the center of events is a reality that cannot be ignored. . . . Mr. Seale does not shrink from describing the darker side of Asad's rule—the corruption, the suppression of dissent by torture and killing, and the use of terrorism as a tool of policy."