Pity the Nation: The Abduction of Lebanon (Nation Books) - Softcover

Fisk, Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1560254424 ISBN 13: 9781560254423

Publisher: Bold Type Books, 2002

Synopsis

With the Israeli-Palestinian crisis reaching wartime levels, where is the latest confrontation between these two old foes leading? Robert Fisk's explosive Pity the Nation recounts Sharon and Arafat's first deadly encounter in Lebanon in the early 1980s and explains why the Israel–Palestine relationship seems so intractable. A remarkable combination of war reporting and analysis by an author who has witnessed the carnage of Beirut for twenty-five years, Fisk, the first journalist to whom bin Laden announced his jihad against the U.S., is one of the world's most fearless and honored foreign correspondents. He spares no one in this saga of the civil war and subsequent Israeli invasion: the PLO, whose thuggish behavior alienated most Lebanese; the various Lebanese factions, whose appalling brutality spared no one; the Syrians, who supported first the Christians and then the Muslims in their attempt to control Lebanon; and the Israelis, who tried to install their own puppets and, with their 1982 invasion, committed massive war crimes of their own. It includes a moving finale that recounts the travails of Fisk's friend Terry Anderson who was kidnapped by Hezbollah and spent 2,454 days in captivity. Fully updated to include the Israeli withdrawl from south Lebanon and Ariel Sharon's electoral victory over Ehud Barak, this edition has sixty pages of new material and a new preface. "Robert Fisk's enormous book about Lebanon's desperate travails is one of the most distinguished in recent times."—Edward Said

About this title

About the Author:

Robert Fisk is Middle East Correspondent of the Independent, based in Beirut.

From Library Journal:

The labyrinthian tale of Lebanon's destruction has been told a number of times from a number of vantage points, but not since Ze'ev Schiff and Ehud Ya'ari's Israel's Lebanon War ( LJ 10/15/84) has such a powerful book appeared. Fisk, a highly honored British journalist who wrote for The Times (London) for 11 years and who still lives in Lebanon, conveys those appalling events of 1976-85 with the passionate intensity of someone outraged at the actions that have turned a country and people inside out. Fisk graphically portrays the Lebanese tragedy through interviews, anecdotal information, and thoughtful, incisive analyses. Thomas Friedman's From Beirut to Jerusalem ( LJ 7/89) and Charles Glass's Tribes with Flags ( LJ 4/1/90) are comparable efforts, but Friedman's work deals more with the psychological aspects of Arab versus Israeli; Glass has a more leisurely pace that belies Fisk's sense of urgency. Highly recommended for all libraries of any size.
- David P. Snider, Casa Grande P.L., Ariz.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bold Type Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1560254424
• ISBN 13: 9781560254423
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 4
• Number of pages: 752