LAUSR

The World of Palmyra comes to light at a very dark chapter in the history of Syria. Readers will struggle to isolate the book from the contemporary crisis, and the editors recognize this, commenting on the “catastrophe that continues to unfold in Syria” (15) and imparting a sense of powerlessness in the face of “a humanitarian disaster of unimaginable proportions” as well as the unconstrained destruction of the country’s cultural heritage. The reader shares in their grief and empathy, the magnitude of the human suffering being so very hard to comprehend and as this disaster of global dimensions overshadows all else. But the editors still retain the modest hope that their book will help prevent Palmyra from being forgotten and that it “will anchor the world of Palmyra more firmly in the world of today”. It is its credit that the book accomplishes that feat.