A collection of such excellent essays on the Syrian civil war could not be timelier.

• Author: Fletcher, Bill, Jr.
• Position: Our Favorite Books of 2013 - Book review

A collection of such excellent essays on the Syrian civil war could not be timelier. Though the articles in The Syria Dilemma (MIT Press), edited by Nader Hashemi and Danny Postel, do not address the chemical warfare crisis that almost resulted in the United States launching an attack on Syria, this collection draws together a truly diverse spectrum of opinion on how to understand the crisis and what should be done.

Despite the fact that editors Hashemi and Postel are both on the left, they made the important decision to get various analyses of the Syrian crisis. This was not simply a good moral decision but more importantly it spoke to a problem that has been emerging in post-Cold War international policy: What is a left position on the global situation, including but not limited to U.S. foreign policy?

The collection includes well-argued essays in favor of what has come to be called "humanitarian interventions." By "well-argued," I am not suggesting that I agree with the position, but rather that you cannot dismiss the arguments out of hand; you need to give a good deal of thought to the position that is taken.

The Syria Dilemma is not only a good and important read, but it is also a work that can be used to spark discussions among those concerned about twenty-first century international engagement. In that sense, it is just as good for a classroom as it is for global justice advocates.

I first met the late Abdulrahman Mohamed Babu in 1983 when he spoke at an event at the Department of Afro-American Studies at Harvard University. He had been invited to address a group of people concerned with the imprisonment of former Harvard professor Ernest Wamba-dia-Wamba by the Zairian (Congolese) regime of the notorious kleptocrat, Mobutu Sese Seko. I was struck by the power of Babu's intellect, and his humility and down-to-earth approach. Subsequent to that event, we developed a relationship, periodically meeting and corresponding.

It was difficult to believe that Babu had been a major leader of the Zanzibar Revolution of 1964. Babu seemed so unassuming.

Amrit Wilson, in The Threat of Liberation: Imperialism and Revolution in Zanzibar (Pluto Press), does an amazing service by not only introducing readers to Babu, but also of delivering a well-documented look at the unfolding of a revolution against a neocolonial regime.

One of the most stunning aspects of the book is what it has to say about Julius Nyerere, the first president of Tanzania. For many...