In this book Yusuf al-Bakhzani has performed the marvelous task of combing through dozens of different historical sources and studies, many of them published in Arabic in the Middle East and little-known, if at all, to Western scholars, and culled references to Syriac books, manuscripts, and libraries—both East Syrian and West—throughout the Middle East, from the Middle Ages to the present; Syriac manuscripts in India also receive attention.