It is gratifying to see how recent methodical reflections on contemporary Syria are bearing fruit, enriched by intensive research, and new analytical departures. Akdedian’s granular analysis of state capture, sectarianism, the multiform devolution of state power and authority, of the salience of locality and the virtual effacement of the private/public distinction in many domains, shows these to be dynamic processes with agency, novelty and considerable complexity. Having read this book, it would no longer be conscionable to spin stories of primordialism, nor tropes of return to an authentic past.