Reddit reviews The New Lion of Damascus: Bashar al-Asad and Modern Syria

This guy thought Assad was the tops, interviewed him all the time, respected his ideas on reform and modernization. At the time I thought it was utter garbage:

http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Lion-Damascus-al-Asad/dp/0300109911/

Then this same guy continued to follow the situation and changed his mind:

http://www.amazon.com/Syria-The-Fall-House-Assad/dp/0300186517/

>A widely respected Middle East scholar and consultant, Lesch came to know the president better than anyone in the West, in part through a remarkable series of meetings with Assad between 2004 and 2009. Yet for Lesch, like millions of others, Assad was destined to disappoint. In this timely book, the author explores Assad's failed leadership, his transformation from bearer of hope to reactionary tyrant, and his regime's violent response to the uprising of his people in the wake of the Arab Spring.

There aren't many examples of sane, well-adjusted, authoritarian fellows. They tend to turn out wicked regardless of their background or previous moral stances. Going to western university doesn't mean you become a sensible rational thinker, and leading a dictatorship or supporting your family even in its time of ultimate struggle is more fun than being a western professional (See: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi).

He also wrote the Lion of Damascus - Al Assad from Yale Press, 2005. I haven't read it yet, but it is in the mail as I enjoyed his latest book.

http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Lion-Damascus-al-Asad/dp/0300109911

This is a very large expanse of time in which many events took place and I unfortunately don't have time right now to cover the whole thing (nor the proper expertise) but if you have perhaps a more specific question I can likely give an informed and sourced answer (i.e. the rise of the Baathist party specifically or the Assad family within the Baathist party.)

In terms of some good sources to check out, David Lesch has written a ton about Syrian history, specifically in his twin books The New Lion of Damascus and The Fall of the House Assad between the two you should get a good glimpse of Syrian history under the Assads (with a definite focus on Bashar.) Just a word of caution, Lesch had a lot of personal interaction with Bashar (which is partially what makes him so informed) but this also leads to a bias towards Bashar in the first book which he is in a way trying to rectify in his second book.

Hopefully this helps, sorry I couldn't answer more completely.