Beware of Small States: Lebanon, Battleground of the Middle East [Hardcover]

David Hirst (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2010

Lebanon, a country no bigger than Connecticut, has become a battleground for the political, strategic and ideological conflicts of its neighbors and the great powers. It has come to reflect the broad historical experiences of the modern Middle East. Beware of Small States is an elegant and incisive history of Lebanon culminating with the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah and its aftermath. David Hirst—a former Middle East correspondent for The Guardian, whose tough, skeptical voice has earned him death threats and seen him banned from six Arab countries—crafts a narrative that is essential for anyone wishing to understand the current political climate of the Middle East.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A former Middle Eastern correspondent for the Guardian, Hirst (The Gun and the Olive Branch) chronicles the travails of modern Lebanon in this provocative polemic that doubles as a history of the Arab-Israeli struggle. Given Lebanon's tiny size, sectarian polity, and strategic location in a volatile region, Hirst observes that it was almost designed to be the everlasting battleground for others' political, strategic and ideological conflicts. Lebanon's role in the struggle for Palestine, however, is the author's primary interest. Displaced Palestinians flooded into southern Lebanon following the first Arab-Israeli War (1948) and spawned a guerilla 'state-within-a-state' on Israel's northern border. Hirst is solidly in the Palestinians' corner throughout; he inveighs against Israeli policies of ethnic cleansing and blocking progress toward a settlement of the Palestinian issue. The author also faults the United States for its deference to all things Israeli; takes to task Israel and the Israeli lobby in the U.S. for provoking the 2003 invasion of Iraq; and anoints the Iranians as the only true victor of America's war in Iraq. Hirst's is a passionately partisan and eloquent recounting of the tragic fate of modern Lebanon and the Palestinian people. (Apr.)
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Review

History of Lebanon from one of the greatest historians of the Middle East --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 16 and up
  
• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Nation Books (March 30, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568584229
• ISBN-13: 978-1568584225
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #638,989 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #65 in Books > History > Middle East > Lebanon

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great book, with notable flaws, April 19, 2010

By 

Iver E. Peterson "ipeterso" (Lawrenceville, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beware of Small States: Lebanon, Battleground of the Middle East (Hardcover)

My Phalangist friends here in Beirut say, Oh, Hirst - he is in the pay of Hezbollah. While I'm certain that's not so, it's true that Hirst is strangely admiring of armed and militant Islam and of the Iranian and Syrian cats-paw posing as protectors of Lebanon in the South of the country, and he is unnecessarily venomous towards Israel in several instances. For example, gestures toward peace are always sincere coming from Syria and other Arab authorities, and always false and depraved coming from Israel. And Hirst seems also unaware of - or indifferent to - how Hezbollah and its Syrian and Iranian paymasters stand in opposition to the wonderful country Lebanon once was, and still is in parts - tolerant, humane and hospitable. A Hezbollah cleric recently issued one of his periodic statements in the Shiite suburbs south of Beirut reminding women of the importance of keeping their hair covered - does the world really need more of that? And Hezbollah's retention of their own arms is stifling the development of a normal civic government in the country, with the Shiite factions in the government recently insisting that it would not discuss the matter of Hesbollah's private army unless the media stopped writing about the matter. Again, not what the Middle East needs more of.
But the book's slightly skewed point of view is easily outweighed by its many virtues. It is great history, full of amazing detail and thorough research. It tore the scales from my Zionist eyes about the depopulation of Arab villages during the 1947 war of independence, it puts the IDF at the center of the Sabra and Shatila massacre, and not the periphery where its officers had insisted it had been, and it exposes dozens of instances of indifference to Arab death and suffering by Israeli officers during Israel's frequent forays into Lebanon - instances the expose Israel's sins far more damningly than Hirst's occasional failure of journalistic perspective.
Another thing for us, pardon me, we English majors: Hirst knows how to write. His use of punctuation is masterful, and long, multi-part and complex sentences flow on in paragraph after paragraph in seamless clarity. He helps you read quickly without sacrificing meaning or subtlety. It may be inevitable that the chronological flow is sometimes hard to follow - I found myself writing dates in the margins to keep up - but the book is essential reading as a history not only of Lebanon, the little playground of great power ambitions, but of the whole, sad story of the Middle East since the end of World War II.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting surprise, April 7, 2010

By 

JPeter Scott-Hansen (Boca Grande, FL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beware of Small States: Lebanon, Battleground of the Middle East (Hardcover)

Although I had a small part in researching this book by translating one of the source books, I had no idea how amazing the final book would become. This is a must-read for anyone who really is interested in understanding the background to the mess which continues to haunt us. There is plenty of blame to go around, but we here in the US seldom get enough of the real picture to make sound judgements--this goes for our various governments of all shadings. Thanks, David Hirst, for this valuable contribution.

18 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the ULTIMATE history of the Middle East from Ottoman transition to present!, March 21, 2010

By 

Desertwriter (usa) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Beware of Small States: Lebanon, Battleground of the Middle East (Hardcover)

At first I was unsure how Hirst could top his heroic Gun and Olive Branch:Roots of Violence in the Middle East...thinking that for 3 decades, with updates and a long desired comprehensive collection of all three editions in one, published in 2003, with a new 50,000 word forward, which brought the reader from the late 1980s (2nd edition) to the present decade-- the period leading up to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, including insight into evangelistic Christian Zionism and their enmeshment --(concept of Zion and return for Jews)....the exclusion of the narrative of indigenous amended ...and events which led up to the British (who were in a "partitioning state of mind" across their Empire at that point in time)....Partitioning of Syria-Palestine-Transjordan-Levant along with the French as 'spoils" from their defeat (which would never have been possible in all likelihood, except for the unified power of the Arab clans from Hijaz and across the Arab world at the time )...conniving and treachery dealt via betrayal against the Arabs who longed for independence.
Here, in Hirst's latest opus...he picks up from that period...carefully documented presenting the reader with events and players within the Levant prior to 1919 Paris Peace conference --replete with Weizmann quotes and forward.
It must be read... an absolutely essential comprehensive "BIG PICTURE" epic history, in the same way that David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" did. .the era & series of events and schemes and epic historical narrative that will open minds & rip veils from the eyes of those who remain uninformed --whether as a result of inadequate public education in north america as well as the infinitely well oiled & funded propaganda machines that have driven North American ignorance for more than a century..
There is no question that this author is the "Laureate of M/E history"....not merely the Dean, as Hirst has long been considered. Put aside all current readings on the region...clear the decks...and desks, kindles, laptops but make time for this retrospective historical accounting, as no other will enrich, inform, educate and awaken. Brilliantly researched using regional archives and beyond. READ THIS BOOK...give it as a gift to family, associates and friends....Many Blessings to David Hirst for providing readers with blue print and text to finally arrive at this comprehensive beautifully written book, which hands Obama administration an unsparing review of what could lie ahead without the strictest adherence to the lessons of the past... & to Nation Press for publishing this stunner. Bravo!!