In contemporary urban Syria, debates about the representation, preservation, and restoration of the Old City of Damascus have become part of status competition and identity construction among the city￯﾿ﾽs elite. In this lively ethnographic study, Salamandra argues that in deploying and debating these concerns, Syrians dispute the past and criticize the present."[Written] with a nuanced appreciation of the cultural forms in question and how Damascenes themselves think, talk about, and create them.￯﾿ﾽ ￯﾿ﾽAndrew Shryock