Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication Page -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgment -- Chapter 1 The Plight of Minorities in the Middle East: The Underlying Institutional andIdeological Causes -- The Underlying Institutional and Ideological Causes -- Notes -- Chapter 2 The Fate of Christians in the Arab Spring -- The Copts of Egypt: Between Fear and Hope -- The Christians of Syria: The Precarious Existence -- Notes -- Chapter 3 The Alawites: The Beleaguered Community -- The Alawites' Predicament and the Assimilation Debacle -- Collective memories: The Haunting -- Hama: What It Meant for the Alawites -- The Standard Narrative -- The Opposition and its Many Compromises -- Anti-Alawite Bigotry -- The Alawites of Lebanon -- Notes -- Chapter 4 The Druze: The Vulnerable Community -- Collective Memories -- Fears and Oppression During the Revolution -- Support for the Syrian Regime -- Foreign Actors -- Notes -- Chapter 5 The Shi'a in the Arab World -- The Shi'a in Bahrain: The Overlooked Peaceful Revolution -- The Shi'a in Saudi Arabia: The Hopeless and the Forgotten -- The Egyptian Sh?'a: The Endangered Community -- The Lebanese Sh?'a: The Frightened but Assertive Community -- Concluding Remarks -- Notes -- Chapter 6 The Zaydis in Yemen: Between Opportunities and Threats -- What is Zaydism? -- The Revolution -- The Zaydi Ordeal -- Sectarian Incitement -- Islamic Fundamentalism in Yemen -- Zaydis' Strategies of Survival -- The Houthi Overstretch -- Notes -- Chapter 7 The Syrian Kurds: The Accidental Winners -- A History of Oppression -- Limited Aspirations -- Kurdish Utopia -- Neutrality and Strategy: The Third Way -- The Unflattering Opposition -- Strategies of Survival -- Clashes with other Minorities -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Conclusion: The Spring of Broken Mirrors -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Chapter 1 -- Chapter 2