Review: Charles Winslow, Lebanon: War and Politics in a Fragmented Society 1st Edition (1996)

(Disclaimer: the author of this review has no professional expertise in the Middle East. This is only a review of a book. Also, readers need to know that "Mount Lebanon" refers to a part of Lebanon surrounding Beirut; it's about half the land area of the modern republic.)

This book is exceptionally difficult to obtain; this is no doubt a result of unfair neglect, not unmet demand.¹ There are several books about the Lebanese Civil War, however, and sorting out which one is reliable is pretty hard. In the case of the Lebanese Civil War, this event was so long and so complicated that practically any allegation made about any side has a grain of truth (at least), and any defense made by any side for its conduct in the war likewise has a grain of truth. The war involved at least eight major dyadic conflicts (i.e., conflicts between pairs of enemies, including enemy coalitions), and these varied depending on which region of Lebanon we're talking about.

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