Caveat emptor: Fawwaz Traboulsi was and remains a leading figure of the Lebanese left. A historian interprets events, not always documented, and weaves a narrative around those events. As such, the book takes an interesting approach in looking at the history of Lebanon from a class struggle perspective in which the 17 confessions of Lebanon, specifically the leading 6 -Maronites, Sunnis, Chiites, Druzes, Greek Orthodox and Catholics- confiscate the role of the government to continue hoarding the largest pool of resources at the expense of the working class.
Fawwaz challenges the sectarian narrative of those in power who claim that the consolidation of more power into the hands of the leaders of the confessions, yields greater wealth to the Lebanese 鈥渕embers鈥� of those confessions. While Fawwaz鈥檚 challenge may seem self-evident to residents of 2019 onwards Lebanon, whose socio-economic wellbeing was leveled to the ground, no matter to which confession they belong, still the political rhetoric of the parties in power, ahead of the 2022 elections, centered around the preservation of the rights of the sects, dusting away the analysis of Fawwaz and of those who align with his ideas.
Fawwaz demonstrates in this book that, no matter what the instilled political system is, those who pay the price are the lower classes, whose demands, starting from the first half of the 19th century when the 鈥�3ammiyin鈥� -the commoners- revolted against families who secured privileges and rights bestowed upon them following their allegiance to the Maronite church and/or to an external power, notably France, until the pre-war protests of the students, the factory workers, the fishermen and the like demanding social justice, to the de-facto, unjust 鈥渒houweh鈥� system levied by the militia groups in exchange for favors ranging from licenses to protection. Needless to say, these demands, which transcend the rights of any confession, were never taken into consideration, despite the confessional oligarchical system of Lebanon. Traboulsi is amazed by the ability of such a system to replicate itself, substituting family names by others, from the likes of Pharaon, Chiha, Kettaneh, Sursock during the French mandate times to the new-on-the-scene ones such as Berri, Hariri, Miqati, Safadi, Bassil, Geagea next to the perennial Joumblatt, Fragieh and others.
The best book on the history of modern Lebanon without a single doubt. No wonder it garnered the admiration of the likes of Noam Chomsky and other major intellectuals. Completely (and strangely) unbiased, providing a history of pre-war Lebanon and all the intricacies that led to the infamous civil war. If Traboulsi provides a sequel concerning the post-war era (1991-present), this could (and should) become the standard scholarly history of the country of Lebanon. This book is of utmost importance to anyone interested in understanding the peculiar case of a country whose identity and allegiance has long been confused and disputed. It is, also, of special importance to every post-war generation Lebanese, residing in Lebanon or abroad, and yearning to understand the origin of the current state of affairs in their country.
I can NOW see how much it is considered a "MUST" to read the history of your own country, especially in this continuous and interconnected manner (not the way we were taught history at schools) Names of politicians you hear everyday will sound differently by then, and of course you'll gain a deeper understanding for current political issues! "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." (George Santayana)
I don't know what's different about this book is it the way and the sequence with which the writer presented the information and the incidents or is it the contemporary Lebanese history itself and how rich it is. The book made me understand how superficial was my understanding of that country and it's history.
If you are interested in reading a book about the modern history of Lebanon, this is a great start. The chronological order was well presented and although there was some bias towards his presentation of information (in some cases he favored some parties over others in later chapters of the book) he kept it neutral as possible and gave tons of historical examples of how Lebanon is what it is today. Highly recommended.
The book is a comprehensive summary of the Lebanese history for the last 200 years. What鈥檚 impressive is its focus on both the economical and social history 鈥� not just the political side of it.
Personally, I enjoyed the pre-civil war chapters more. The writer seemed to skip through the civil war, relying on the readers鈥� knowledge about the period.