Customer Reviews

The Culture of Sectarianism: Community, History, and Violence in Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Lebanon

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The thesis of this book is simple: Sectarianism is not an age-old feature of Lebanese society but rather developed in a dialectical process involving locals, Ottoman reformists, and European interests. The argument is convincing, but it is still incomplete. There is virutally no treatment whatsoever of the changing economic realities the region experienced in the 19th century. As a social history, the work distances itself from the Marxist model, but unfortunately, this distancing resulted in neglect in terms of economic structures of Mt. Lebanon, esepcially with regard to the Christian peasant rebellions and the subsequent massacres which take up a large portion of the book.

There is much that is thought provoking in this scholarly but never boring book; for example, the notion of simplistic, self referential perceptions on the part of western missionaries and diplomats of the various communities in Mount Lebanon coloring subsequent views - and consequently, policies -in that part of the world, and creating artificial stereotypes which were then conveniently exploited. Makdissi's analysis is cogent and stimulating. He presents a challenging and refreshing perspective on events in Mount Lebanon in the middle of the nineteenth century and their far-reaching implications to the state of affairs in modern Lebanon. One cannot help drawing a parallel with perceptions of the world today informed by CNN-cum fast food-style information: Everything one hears is simplistically and uniformly packaged to render it more easily palatable with little regard for the complexities of any situation. What is particularly disconcerting is that even our own perceptions are colored by that type of reporting and analysis! Makdissi's book reminds us of the necessity for questioning our perspectives and assumptions thus conducting 'reality checks' that may lead to some new solutions to misdiagnosed problems.