Help Me Become Well-Read About Lebanon

October 18, 2009 5:52 PM

I'm interested in Lebanon, (relatively) modern Lebanese history, Lebanese literature, and the Lebanese diaspora.

Help me expand a reading list to cure my ignorance about the history of Lebanon; as a nation, as a country with a group of religions, branches and denominations, and as an ethnicity of immigrants spread into North America, Latin America and around the world.

I'm open to reading or watching works of history, film, journalism, literature, documentary, fiction, or any other kind of material. However, though I do recognise that it's impossible to get around, I'm more interested in modern Lebanon *specifically* and less interested in general Middle Eastern history, ancient/classical history of the Mediterranean, or the military history of Israel's wars with its neighbours.

Unfortunately I don't speak or read Arabic at all though I do read Spanish and a bit of French.

posted by Fiasco da Gama to writing & language (7 comments total)

This may be a little early for your time period, but I read Culture of Sectarianism by Ussama Makdisi in my history of the modern Middle East class a few years ago. He argues the country wasn't always divided along sectarian lines, and traces its development in the nineteenth century. One of his major themes is how sectarianism is a reflection of modernity so you may be interested in it. I remember it was a difficult read, but really educational.
posted by lilac girl at 7:17 PM on October 18

One of my close friends is in love with Lebanon. She's Iraqi-American but has been splitting her time between the states and Beirut, trying to set up a PR/consulting firm. She's friends with many film-makers, designers, and other cool young people around Lebanon. From what she's told me it sounds like an exciting place.

Off the top of my head, I'd watch Caramel . It's an instant watch on netflix, last time I checked. And I enjoyed it, though apparently there's some cultural in-jokes that went over my head. Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations special on Beirut is a good, considering he was there during the conflict with Israel a few years back. It's on youtube here .

I'll shoot her an email to see if she has any good reading material to recommend.
posted by wilky at 12:51 AM on October 19

Nassim Taleb alludes a little to it in The Black Swan. He came of age during the hostilities and has some observations.
posted by IndigoJones at 5:54 AM on October 19

The problem you're gonna run in to over and over, probably, is that it's really not possible to talk about Lebanon without talking about how various other places have acted upon Lebanon. Boy howdy. It sounds like you already know that, though. So here's a list:

Non-Fiction:
Pity the Nation, by Robert Fisk
From Beirut to Jerusalem, by Thomas Friedman
A History of Modern Lebanon, by Fawwaz Traboulsi
Mirror of the Arab World, by Sandra Mackey
Hezbollah, by Augustus Richard Norton
Rafiq Hariri and the Fate of Lebanon
Inside Lebanon, Noam and Carol Chomsky
Off the Wall, by Zeina Maasri
A House of Many Mansions, by Kamal Salibi
Remember Me To Lebanon, by Evelyn Shakir
Resistance: My Life for Lebanon, by Souha Bechara
Everyday Jihad, by Bernard Rougier and Pascale Ghazaleh

At Home in Beirut, published by Turning Point (one of those "how to live in x city" books)

DeNiro's Game, by Rawi Hage
Waltz with Bashir, by Ari Folman and David Polonsky
Season of Betrayal, by Margaret Lowrie Robinson

If I had to recommend just a couple, I'd definitely start with the Fisk and Friedman and then hit up DeNiro's Game. And if I were to start this whole reading process over again for myself, I would honestly take notes as to the different sects and their associated militaries, the various politicians and their family connections, and I'd get ahold of a map to figure out where all the stuff was going down.

For a very general grounding oversight, the introduction to Friedman's book is pretty nice.
posted by lauranesson at 6:50 AM on October 19 [1 favorite has favorites]

Seconding Pity the Nation by Robert Fisk.
posted by number9dream at 9:50 AM on October 19

Qifa Nabki, a graduate student at Harvard and prominent blogger of Lebanese politics, writes about this topic today.
posted by proj at 8:14 AM on October 20

You've all been extremely helpful, thank you all. I have a date with the library.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 9:48 PM on October 20