To get at the truth about what's happening in the Middle East and South Asia, you have to dig much deeper than the mainstream media.

• Author: Pal, Amitabh
• Position: Our Favorite Books of 2014 - No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War Through Afghan Eyes - Book review

To get at the truth about what's happening in the Middle East and South Asia, you have to dig much deeper than the mainstream media. Three recent books do just that, providing perspectives, background, and context sorely missing in the news.

Afghanistan gets less coverage now that U.S. forces are withdrawing, but it's important to understand how we got to the current situation. Anand Gopal's No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War Through Afghan Eyes (Metropolitan Books) convincingly argues that the fratricide there over the past decade could have been almost completely avoided, since the Taliban were looking for a face-saving way to surrender in the immediate aftermath of the U.S. invasion. He also shows how the United States wasted half a trillion dollars, lavishing money on dubious regional strongmen. And by focusing on three Afghans (an insurgent, a warlord, and an amazingly determined woman), he lays bare the tragic recent history of the country.

No country today needs background and context more than Syria, and Reese Erlich (a Progressive contributor) gives plenty of both in Inside Syria: The Backstory of Their Civil War and What the World Can Expect (Prometheus Books). Erlich starts with Lawrence of Arabia (who else?) and the country's shifting contours over the past too years. He then moves on to the various actors in the fray, with his analysis of the Syrian Kurds being especially informative. There's heavy-duty reporting on display here, too. From Bashar al-Assad himself and Hanan Ashrawi to participants in the nonviolent and violent struggles against Assad, Erlich interviews a broad...