Inside Lebanon: Journey to a Shattered Land with Noam and Carol Chomsky (Paperback)

~ Assaf Kfoury (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Review

This erudite and humane collection, in telling us wisely about LebanonÂ’s struggle, illuminates brilliantly the true nature of voracious power. - John Pilger, journalist, author of Freedom Next Time

A remarkable account of Carol and Noam ChomskyÂ’s visit to a Lebanon devastated by the July 2006 war. It is testimony to the never-ending suffering and steadfastness of the Palestinian and Lebanese people. - Mariam C. Said

Product Description

This prescient and timely book documents Noam Chomsky's visit to Lebanon, in May 2006, to lecture on U.S. imperialism and the imminent crises facing the Middle East— two months before Israel orchestrated major military campaigns against Lebanon and Palestine. During his visit, he met with political leaders— including those of Hizbullah— toured refugee camps, and inspected a former Israeli prison and torture compound.

Inside Lebanon describes Chomsky's journey and situates it within the tragically altered context of Lebanon and Palestine before and after the war of 2006. Chomsky's essays provide a framework for understanding the role of U.S. politics, power, and policies in these conflicts by examining how the United States wages war and imposes world domination while presenting itself as the righteous protector of democracy. Ironically, U.S. efforts at imperial control generate conflict and crises within the region while undermining democracy.

Inside Lebanon includes essays and photographs by Carol Chomsky, Irene L. Gendizier, Assaf Kfoury, Jennifer Loewenstein, Hanady Salman, Rasha Salti, and Fawwaz Traboulsi and provides an analysis of the social-political conditions of people in Lebanon, Gaza, and refugee camps. It situates Israeli's attacks and the position of Hizbullah and Hamas in this conflict while at the same time providing a record of events during the war, linking the conflicts on the ground to the global order.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Monthly Review Press; illustrated edition edition (July 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583671536
• ISBN-13: 978-1583671535
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #503,626 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #12 in	Books > Travel > Middle East > Lebanon
  #50 in	Books > History > Middle East > Lebanon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good look inside Lebanon, July 24, 2007

By	Michael E. Tigar (Durham, NC, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a valuable and timely book, in two parts. The first part contains lectures given in Lebanon by Noam Chomsky in May 2006, and essays and interviews from that time. Contributors include a number of respected academics, journalists and community workers from Lebanon and the United States. The second part consists of essays and other materials discussing Israel's incursion into Lebanon in July and August 2006. In this section, there is are moving excerpts from a diary kept by a prominent Lebanese journalist, and dispatches written at the time by a journalist who reported on the conflict. The Israeli bombings killed tens of thousands of civilians, and provoked a debate within Israel as well as in the international community. I will recommend this book to my students and to colleagues and friends. It not only chronicles important events in Lebanon. Its authors help us see the relationship between the conflict in Lebanon, the war in Iraq and the long-term crisis in the Middle East.
Michael E. Tigar, law professor, lawyer, author

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A sober, serious-minded critiqu, September 2, 2007

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Inside Lebanon: Journey to a Shattered Land with Noam and Carol Chomsky collects the gathered insights of Noam and Carol Chomsky during the course of their visit to Lebanon in May 2006 - only two months before Israel initiated a new military campaign against Lebanon and Palestine. Other experts such as Assaf Kfoury, Irene Gendzier, Hanaday Salman, Rasha Salti, and more also contribute their insights into the troubled region in separate essays. Context from both before and after the 2006 war, as well as background and framework information surround this harsh yet illuminating criticism that denounces cruelties committed by the United States and Israel as thoroughly as it condemns terrorist acts such as the September 11th attacks. "According to Bush, any state that harbors terrorists is a terrorist state and must be treated accordingly. It must be bombed and invaded. It seems to me that Bush is calling for the bombing of the United States. The United States harbors terrorists who are regarded as such by the FBI and the Justice Department. One of the worst is Orlando Bosch, the anti-Castro terrorist accused of about thirty terrorist acts by the FBI, among them the crash of a Cubana Airline plane killing seventy-three people. Bush's father, George Herbert Walker Bush, gave Bosch a presidential pardon. Bosch remained in the United States against the objections of the Justice Department, which regarded him as a national security threat." A sober, serious-minded critique, worthy as the spiritual successor to Thomas Friedman's classic "From Beirut to Jerusalem" (though the political viewpoints of the respective authors are not necessarily congruent). Highly recommended.