Chains to Roses The Joseph Cicippio Story

Cicippio, Joseph & Richard W. Hope

ISBN 10: 1567960251 / ISBN 13: 9781567960259

Published by Wrs Pub, 1993

About this Item

Binding is solid. Pages are clean and unmarked. SIGNED by author on title page. Dustjacket has some wear and tear along edges. Cover is clean and unmarked with minor wear to corners. ; 5.25 X 1 X 9.5 inches; 202 pages.

Seller Inventory # 36451

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Chains to Roses The Joseph Cicippio Story
• Publisher: Wrs Pub
• Publication Date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1567960251
• ISBN 13: 9781567960259
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fair
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

The author recounts how he survived a five-year ordeal as a hostage of Beirut terrorists

Reviews

Cicippio was chief financial officer of the American University of Beirut (AUB) for a number of years before he was kidnapped by Islamic extremists in September 1986. Newly married to a Lebanese woman and a devout convert to Islam, he was taken hostage on the AUB campus and moved around the Lebanese countryside for more than five years before his release in Damascus, Syria. Cicippio's recitation of his long ordeal is very similar to those of other hostages, e.g., Terry Anderson's Den of Lions ( LJ 9/1/93) and Brian Keenan's An Evil Cradling ( LJ 7/93). Aside from his wondering aloud about the ultimate wisdom of various government policies regarding negotiations with the hostage takers, this book is more remarkable for its revelation of a man's grace and perseverance under pressure than any new expose or revelation from the hostage ordeal that dominated the Middle East in the late 1980s. Enthusiastically recommended for large libraries with inclusive collections in this area.
- David P. Snider, Casa Grande P.L., Ariz.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Adding to the recent influx of Lebanese hostage sagas is this one from Joseph Cicippio, former comptroller of Beirut's American University. Becoming a hostage is horrifying in and of itself, but each man's story had its particularly gruesome side. Cicippio's was twofold: for a time, he shared a cramped cell with an insane man, making the addition of company more frustrating than comforting; and, some time while he was unconscious, his captors performed a mysterious abdominal operation on him. In every other chapter, Cicippio's wife tells what it was like on the outside, dealing with the politics of both her home country, Lebanon, and the U.S. Although not as riveting as Terry Anderson's book Den of Lions or Terry Waite's Taken on Trust , Chains to Roses paints a distinct, unnerving picture of the life of a political prisoner. Mary Frances Wilkens