Review (PDF)

Lebanon: A House Divided

With a new introduction by the author, a seminal study of Lebanon’s past, present, and future. With the West’s economic and security interests increasingly at stake in the Middle East, it is impossible to ignore Lebanon―a nation in all ways divided and tormented by the interplay between the West and the Arab world. Sandra Mackey delineates the multifarious culture that is Lebanon; carefully stripping away the complex stigmas of Lebanese politics, she brings each component into focus, priming readers on the conflicts between Sunni and Shia, Maronites and Druze, Christian and Muslim, Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Lebanon and Palestine, and Syria and Lebanon. Covering Lebanon’s history through the civil war of 1975­89, and with a new introduction on recent developments, Mackey lays the groundwork needed to comprehend this often ill-understood country―offering insight into its role as the gateway between West and East, and bringing clarity of focus to the schisms that serve to divide and define Lebanon.

Paperback: 320 pages

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (July 17, 2006)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0393328430

ISBN-13: 978-0393328431

Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.3 inches

Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #346,888 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #23 in Books > History > Middle East > Lebanon #516 in Books > History > World > Religious > Religion, Politics & State #548 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Studies > Church & State

Mackey's book is an interesting read, she uses a different style than most other authors in the genre. She spends some time discribing how mountains look when pulling into port and the like. It gives the book a different tempo, which could be good or bad depending upon your personal tastes.For the good aspects of the book, I suggest reading the Editorial Reviews on this page. They'll do a better job than I explaining the good.There are several things I don't like. This is a re-print, and as such it advertises a "new introduction". It really isn't an introduction, as it only explains why she decided to re-print the book and that she is going to be releasing a second volume on the subject.The second problem is, in my opinion, rather large. She only includes a four page selected bibliography. I give her the benifit of the doubt that she isn't making up the contents of the book, but I still want to know where she got her sources. If I want to further my reading on the subject, or if I need to come up with additional sources for a paper on Lebanon, or if I decide that I want to check her sources the bibliography offered makes that largely impossible.The 15 pages of notes don't help either. The authors quoted there appear in the selected bibliography. The rest of the notes read somewhat like a glossary. For example, on page 268 you can read her definition of Imam: "Regarding the Twelve Imams of Shiism, an imam is a divinely inspired successor to the Prophet. In general terms, an imam can also be simply the spiritual leader of the community, not unlike the village priest in Catholicism." To somebody with a basic knowledge of the Middle East or Islam, the definition isn't needed.

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