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

Important well written book that remains relevant in explaining the situation in West Asia aka the Middle East.

This is the book that I've meant to read for years, but have only just got round to. Now I wish I hadn't waited so long.According to Amazon, 5 stars means you "Loved It". Well, "loved it" is not a phrase you can apply to a book like this. It is a horrific tale. But once you're through with it, you find that you've gained the beginnings of a solid "understanding" as to why the Lebanese tragedy unfolded the way it did.I will admit, for someone like myself who doesn't possess a very large knowledge base on the subject of Lebanon, Fisk's work was hard to get into. For openers, he doesn't cover his subject chronologically. In fact, he skips around in history quite a bit (for a reason, as he explains in his prologue). And the maps he provides are rudimentary at best. In fact, I eventually purchased a travel map of Lebanon so that I could better follow his reporting. It was pretty confusing at first, sorting through all the actors and the various factions that influenced the country in the 1900's.But suddenly, after about 4 or 5 chapters, I reached a point where I could not put the book down. I found myself pulled completely into Fisk's world. It is a hair-raising world, indeed. Interviews with Arafat. Interviews with the Gemayals. Interviews with Israeli soldiers. Interviews with Christian and Muslim inhabitants from all walks of life on both sides of the green line in Beirut. But the most striking passages are his on-the-scene accounts of atrocities large and small ... the horrific events that we don't want to know about but that we MUST know about if we are to have any hope at all of not repeating history in future.Afterwards, wanting more historical background, I found Kamal Salibi's work, "A House of Many Mansions", to be tremendously helpful in sorting out the various factions that influenced the region in the time period Fisk covers.

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.