Customer Reviews

Pity the Nation: The Abduction of Lebanon

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Mr. Fisk's account of the wars that have ravaged the Lebanese society is peerless. Rarely have I read a book that so realistically depicted the sundry horrors of armed conflict. Further, the books provides the much-needed context to the current situation in the Middle East, and finally exposes all the suffering, the double standards, and key players that have made the region such a complex riddle. And while it covers a conflict that, for one reason or another, has long been forgotten, it successfully makes the reader aware of the fact that the seeds of discontent that were sown in 1948 are still growing to this day.

Besides a number of realistic depictions of the horrors of war, the book also dissects the notions of "terrorism" we generally take for granted and thereby shows how the use of language, as well as the manipulation of the media, will inevitably bias our understanding of what is, unarguably, an emotionally-charged situation. As with many a conflict, the book leads the reader to the conclusion that "solving" the Israeli-Palestinian issue will ultimately require nothing less than a region-wide (and honest) effort. Found many echoes of current US policy as well, where the "honest broker" gets sucked into a culture it does not fully comprehend. There are lessons to be learned from this book-lessons with immediate applicability-but somehow I have doubts that the powers that be in Washington have enough cognitive staying power, if not a sense of moral probity, to read it.

Absolutely brilliant, daunting in size but altogether satisfying. Anyone who wishes to reach a better understanding of the headlines emerging from the Middle East simply cannot afford not to read this book. Made me wanting more, horrors notwithstanding. If only Mr. Fisk could be more prolific...

As Fisk tells us this book is not an academic history of the wars in Lebanon but rather a personal narrative of a news reporter based on his mountain of notes, a profession in which he is just the best. This leads to some confusion for a reader who has to stay with him as he jumps from place to place, army to army, party to party, and even time to time. It also takes a strong stomach as he forces us to read about the reality of modern "war", the ugly brutality of what modern weapons can do in dismembering pitiful, innocent human beings. Over and over. As he says, "So far as armies and militias go, there are no good guys in Lebanon." While none of them including the PLO come out as heroes the Israelis certainly do not look good, not just in the brutality inflicted on the Lebanese but in their racist arrogance and lies they often told to cover up their actions. For exposing these Fisk was, as usual, subject to attack by the ubiquitous Israeli lobby in the US including the dreary and false charges of "anti-Semitsm". He is one of the few foreign reporters who has called attention to the Israeli practice of falling back on "the Holocaust" or accusations of anti-Semitism when caught out in one of their military outrages.

This book although a difficult read is particularly educational for Americans who may have opinions about Lebanon formed by the usually inadequate US media.

Fisk is British but lives in Lebanon. He was educated in Ireland and has somewhat Irish outlooks which I think give him a certain sympathy for those without power. I note that when on leave he went to the remote west of Ireland rather than the fleshpots of Europe!

Lastly, his bravery in reporting literally under fire is unique as far as I know, except for a few of his other companions such as his friend the kidnapped Terry Anderson and a few others from several nations and the brave United Nations soldiers. His final chapter about the Israeli attack on the UN base at Qana with its Fiji soldiers and many civilians is shocking and a fitting finale to the book.

I first started reading Fisk couple years ago from his columns in the Independent Newspaper. During the Second Gulf War he made so excellent observations and comments that my respect and admiration for him grew a lot.. When I wanted to read a book about the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict I knew exactly which address to go to: A journalist who has been living in Beirut for around 20 years, who is unbiased and intelligent enough to interpret what really is going on, a.k.a. Robert Fisk..
This book is truly marvelous, totally unbiased and very informative. If you want to get a good grip of what really is going on in the Middle East, you have to read this book.. It's easy to read and you won't regret neither the money nor the time you spent on this book.. This is the only book that made me burst into tears as I'm reading it.. I don't usually write comments, but with this book I felt like this is the least I can do.. More people should read this and open their eyes!!!

Robert Fisk(Beirut correspondent for "The Independent) was recently the target of death threats and vicious emails for his honest and unbiased reporting from the Middle East.
"Pity the Nation" is a readable and riveting account of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, and the consequences of the same for the Palestinians, Lebanese and the rest of the Middle East. This is essential reading for understanding the current situation in the Middle East, and all the more timely considering the current US posture towards Iraq.

...It is well worth the effort of tracking down. Many aspiring novelists would benefit from acquainting themselves with Fisk's powerful, unpretentious prose and the book itself is revelatory. On almost every page he tells you something that leaves you inwardly gasping. Forget all those recent books with Bin Laden on the cover. If you really want to read a book about Middle Eastern history and politics, this is the one to start with.

Reading Fisk's book, I relived my own childhood. I grew up in Beirut in the late 70's and the early 80's. I lived the nights of horor when the invasion started, everyone thought that we will be massacred, and wasn't that what happened in Sabra and Shatil? We fled to the Bekaa passing by the Lebanese mountains, and I saw the Christian Milisha standing side by side with the Israeli army. With Fisk's book, I found the words that described this whole web of events. I knew whom to blame, and I just thank him.

Robert Fisk is so adept at asking the tough questions that virtually everyone accuses him of being sympathetic to the other side. In _Pity the Nation_, he exposes their savage and brutal behavior of the parties in the Lebanon conflict. The list of people who Fisk challenges reads like a who's who of the killers in the Middle East: Assad, Begin, Sharon, Arafat, Gemayel, Haddad - the list goes on. In a time when everyone's reporting seems so colored by ideology and loyalties, Fisk is refreshingly honest and even-handed.

The work stands above anything written by any contemprorary historian or journalist covering the Middle East. The questions, eye witness accounts, insights, and volume of information is overwhelming. Whereas Robert Fisk paints a dark portrait of the Israelis, he doesn't pull any punches describing the Palestinians either. Heroes and victims all using words and deeds to muddy the water in their favor. Nobody leaves this book without a profound sense of the depth of differences and issues necessary to address before any peace can really be achieved in the Middle East.

First of all let me say that I'm an admirer of Robert Fisk's courageous journalism, he has risked his life many times to bring the truth to his readership. I am also a strong critic of Israel. However, I must say I was a bit disappointed with this book.

Fisk begins by stating that his book is not a history, and that those who are looking for such should look elsewhere. Now I admit this was something of a letdown for me because I was hoping for some historical background to help me understand the events in Lebanon in the '80's.

I expected to gain a greater understanding of the conflict regardless. And therein lies my first disappointment. Not that the book is entirely devoid of historical context. But Fisk leaps from one scene to another in such a chaotic manner that after a couple of chapters one is really struggling to get a handle on the chain of events. One is left mainly with an impression of a country torn apart by a dozen different militias, but without much understanding of what motivates them.

Perhaps such a situation is all but impossible to make sense of anyway, but Fisk often seems uninterested in providing even a thumbnail sketch. Why, for example, did Israel invade in the first place? Fisk hints in passing that it was all just due to paranoia over terrorism, but there is remarkably little discussion of the issue.

While as I've said I'm a strong critic of Israel, I feel Fisk does show a certain bias in his reportage. All of Israel's crimes are examined and by implication condemned chapter and verse, and yet the PLO's own atrocities are usually glossed over in a sentence or two. The overall impression is that Fisk has set out to challenge the Western media myth that Israel is the blameless victim and the Palestinians irrational brutes. And that's fine as far as it goes, but I don't think one's cause is ultimately served by glossing over those parts of the story which don't fit one's agenda.

What this book lacks in analysis though, it certainly seems to be trying to make up for in gore. Fisk appears obsessed with recording every dead body he has ever encountered, as if trying to purge himself of the nightmarish images. But while that is understandable as a psychological reaction, it doesn't necessarily make for engaging reading.

I guess the problem I have with Fisk's writing here is that it isn't sufficiently differentiated from his technique as a journalist. It is of course the role of a good journalist to describe and document the things he sees and experiences. But what works for a 1000 word essay is not necessarily going to succeed for a 1000 page book. This book reads kind of like a compendium of articles Fisk might have written during the conflict, reorganized somewhat with the benefit of hindsight, but lacking the immediacy. And the overall effect, I'm afraid, is to exhaust the reader rather than engage him. At least, that's how I experienced it. In fact, I must admit that by the time I got through the penultimate chapter, I just couldn't take any more.

That's not to say there are not some powerful moments though. One of the most moving for me was Fisk's encounter with two teenage Syrian soldiers in an isolated position who are very much alive and hungry for human contact - which Fisk, reluctant to connect with people he knows face almost certain death, guiltily denies them. We almost don't need to go back to the scene later to be shown the traces of human remains in the foxholes. Another powerful section records Fisk's encounters with victims of the Sabra-Shatile massacre - scenes from everyday life suddenly shattered by wanton murder, made all the more horrific by the sheer mundanity of the surroundings. Overall though, I can't help but think that Fisk might have done better by putting more emphasis on the plight of the living.

In summary, this book is more of a vivid eyewitness account than an analysis of the conflict. While it will almost certainly be an important document of its kind for scholars of a future age, those who like me are looking for a history are probably well advised to take Fisk's own advice and look elsewhere.

Sometimes its hard to read this book two nights in a row. You reach a point where you are forced to take a break. You stop reading for three days. But then you delight in the guilty pleasure of being able to read again. You deeply wish you could finish the book in one night, but your sanity betrays and youre stopped again. You are a heroin addict craving the fatal powder. Youre hooked on the taste of the gun barrel that Fisk savagely shoves in your mouth. Between true-life stories of babies literally burnt in flames because of poisonous gas, dumped in water tubs for hours to extinguish, and then burning again as soon as the doctors take their bodies out of the water, you wonder why you should go through this. But you do. And you do it passionately. No matter how deeply it cuts, you keep coming back for more. This is the power of Pity the nation, a fruit of 26 years of journalism in Lebanon. The swamp where everyone: Americans, Israelis, Palestinians, Syrians and even United Nations soldiers, have been humiliated and killed.

Fisk is a storyteller at heart, and his superlative language capability spanning almost 700 pages make this a must-read, even for readers that are unconcerned with Lebanon. Its also one of rare example of what a journalist should be. Reporting from inside the Israeli tanks while sipping Lebanese beer with soldiers- as they invaded Beirut, climbing over dead bodies in Palestinian camps to overview one of the massacres, and visiting a Nazi concentration camp to report on the Holocaust, Fisk remains the quintessential brand name journalist. Even the hardest critics of the book couldnt pinpoint what side he took while reporting from this Middle Eastern hell. But Fisk was always biased towards the hard-to-swallow truth. He exposes the dark side of all politicians, Arab and Jew, stating that there were no good guys in Lebanon.

This book redefines journalism like no other, but more importantly, it shows that true journalism comes with a price. For the writer explains that politicians in Lebanon were stung by a dragonfly, with the itch growing bigger until it became fatal. But Fisk walked along through the Lebanese swamp for 26 years, and he was also stung by the dragonfly. He, like the readers of his book, miraculously remained sane and focused throughout the journey, but he and his readers have lost their innocence, forever.