A superb piece of work. Only someone with "inside" information could have written a book with so much details, showing unfortunately dirty (local, regional and international) politics. Politics that killed, probably what was known to be as one of the best places to live in. It is sad and ironic to see world powers leave such a country to disintegrate and die leaving it at the mercy of its meddling and envious neighbours.

Imagine that a foreigner to Lebanon knows more about it than the Lebanese themselves. It's a great history book, and one would have to read it to really know what was happening in Lebanon.

When I started reading this book, I thought it was just another fairy tale written by a reporter who was seeking fame and fortune. I was wrong. the events in this book are acurate, and the story in all is very intense. I congradulate miss Neman for her honesty and courage. I would love to meet and share some stories with her one day since I grew up in the Covenant's home town... No matter what was said about Shiek Basshir, and no matter what he had done, HE WAS TRULY THE ONLY HOPE LEBANON HAD..

I do not want this to sound insensitive, but the one thing I kept thinking as I was reading this book is why was he there? The U.S. government was telling U.S. citizens to leave, the Lebanese government did not care, his employer wanted him to leave, and there were increasing hostage incidents. The book his the story of his capture and the seven years he spent as a captive of this militant group. He does a good job in describing the locations he was in, the people that were his captors, and the other persons that he was with. I thought the most interesting parts of the book detailed his conversations with some of his captors and their views on the situation.

The book is a very interesting view of what happened to the author. The details are rich and he does a good job of painting the scenes for us. He also did a good job of explaining the depression of being a captive and what it is like to loss seven years of your life, although I do not think any author could truly express the emotional pain that he must have gone through. If you are interested in this part of the world or this story, this is a great book. It is also interesting given the current climate in the Middle East to read about what was happening 20 years ago.

Den of Lions: Memoirs of Seven Years by Terry Anderson is one of my favorite books. The book grabbed my attention and kept it. I read the book in one day. Learning of Terry Anderson's ordeal through his eyes and in his words was amazing. Having been only 4 when he was taken hostage, I did not really know much about him until he was released from Lebanon in 1991, when I was 10. I grew up watching the news with my parents and I can remember seeing his return on television.
When I decided to study journalism in college, I chose the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. When I heard that Terry Anderson was going to be joining the faculty at Scripps, I was truly excited. I read his memoirs and then had the opportunity to hear him speak about his ordeal. Having him as a professor at Scripps was a wonderful experience for all journalism students. I have the great privilege of saying that I met one of my role models and I am grateful for that.
Den of Lions: Memoirs of Seven Years is one of the best books I have ever read. It is touching and wonderfully written. It tells Terry Anderson's story in a way that only he could.

Terry Anderson's Den of Lions is a den of insights into the radical bi-polar terrorist mentality in which he was trapped for over seven years. His descriptions of the bombings, shootings and random daily violence that permeated around the non-citizens and the citizens of Lebanon, make this a classic Middle East hostage survivor's story. Anderson's poems of his cruel incarceration are filled with searing depth that transport you to the various scummy basement cells which he shared with other Westerners. Den of Lions and Hostage by David Jacobson go hand in hand and are important contributions in the collection of Middle East books that help those of us citizens who were not there or too young to remember, the horror that Beirut was during the eighties and early ninties. Very highly recommended!

I discovered this book by chance, and was so, so happy to have found it while reading it. I am Norwegian, but was born and raised in Lebanon, and recognize so many of the funny, sad, beautiful incidents Anwar Accawi describes. It's a wonderful book! And a loving tribute to Lebanon, the best place in the world - we were so lucky to grow up there in happy times!

I cannot think of another book I've read with greater passion. Anwar Accawi possesses the ability to draw the reader into the mind of a five year old boy, and into the creative way its thinking process helps him understand the world around him. At the crossroads of change in the 1940s , the Mount Lebanon village of Majdalouna has very colorful and unique characters living at the fringe of what (then) modern life had to offer. The five year old Anwar untethers his mind to describe the village, villagers and their changing way of life.

About Anwar Accawi the author: another Mark Twain in the making? Possibly!

I read the Anwar Accawi essay "The Telephone" in the best American essays for 1998 edited by Cynthia Ozick. His writing is terrific. We need more new writers of his talent and the essay and information about other cultures will come alive again.

This is a fantastic book about the challenges of modernity and westernization in traditional culture. The main character is a judge of Islamic law in modern-day Lebanon, who becomes fascinated by the red shoes of his foreign benefactor's wife. They share a kind of marriage that the judge finds both fascinating and outrageous--she feels free to greet him in private when her husband is not home, an act that no self-respecting Muslim woman would do, and she seems almost the equal of her husband. This makes the judge suddenly disappointed in his own long, very proper marriage.

And this happens against the backdrop of social and political turmoil in Lebanon. Young people become more mobile, marry without consent, and reject traditional ways; the entire culture seems doomed. Eventually the judge resigns himself to the uncertain modern world, but he must give up something very precious in order to do so.

The torment of the Muslim soul, facing the challenges of modernity with its attendant liberalism and materialism, is a subject rarely treated in the English language.

Lebanon has always been a beehive of different religions and their many different sects. Times haven't changed the people much since 1840 when this book was written. I would recommend it for a variety of reasons: 1) to understand that life is the same there, socially and religiously; 2) to understand how society in Lebanon still functions after all this time - no change; 3)to ghet a glimpse of how people deal psychologically with loss, defamation and themselves in such a society.
It is a good read anyway, as a story, and along the way you'll learn some history as well.

No I have not reads this book yet

I like this guide for its detail about Syria, but the information about Lebanon is sketchy in comparison. If you plan to visit both countries I recommend getting a separate Lebanon guide in addition to this one. I also agree with another reviewer who said that this guide is less practical than others, such as the Lonely Planet or Rough Guides. Still, it's very well-written and pleasurable to read while you are viewing the sites.

This is an excellent guide in every practical sense, but it is also something very much more, for it entirely draws you into Syria and Lebanon, it paints them before your eyes and immerses you in their atmosphere, so that like reading a good novel you feel you are actually there. I cannot praise too highly the artistry with which Mr Haag has composed this book, and I thank him for having provided me -- in the person of his guide -- with his knowledgable and most enjoyable company throughout my visit.

I had never been to Syria or Lebanon before, but when I flicked through Michael Haag's guide at the bookshop my appetite was immediately whetted. The question was whether these countries were really as good as they were made out to be -- and whether the book really worked 'on the ground'. I was not disappointed. Syria especially was marvellous, so full of staggering things to see, beautiful landscapes, charming people. And Michael Haag in his descriptions, his facts, his marvellous writing style, the wide-ranging authority of his knowledge, brought everything to life for me and made this a journey of a lifetime. By the way I used the second edition, published in December 1999.

I must first preface that I am not a vegetarian. I am third generation Lebanese-American and love Lebanese food, so people are always sending me cookbooks, and this book was just such a gift. This book has some very good recipies, however, I found some of them incomplete or difficult to follow. Having cooked Lebanese food myself now for a few years, I have been able overcome these difficulties. I highly recommend this books version of Fattoush and it's two Lentil Soup recipies. Those three recipies stand out the most. The food in this cookbook is healthy and very tasty. If you live in an are where fresh produce is readily available here is a book that can help you use it all.

This is a great cookbook. The recipes are all pretty simple - one thing I like (haven't tried it yet but I will) is that there are even some hand drawn pictures on how to do stuffed grape leaves. I do wish there were some more "stories" with the recipes. I enjoy getting to read about the foods and have some context in this cookbook you pretty much just get the recipes. But they're good and straightforward. I've recently been turning into a vegetarian (for ethical reasons but the health benefits are great too) and I was looking for a cookbook that would replace my lebanese cookbook that is more meat focused. Thos one does it for me and I completely feel comfortable wiith giving up my old standby. I guess because the recipes are straightforward (i.e, not a lot of extra embellishment) it give the chef more leeway to throw in a few extra spices here and there which I enjoy doing. I certainly recommend it and I'm psyched to have it as part of my collection.

"From The Tables of Lebanon" is an absolute culinary delight. Every recipe is authentic. Every recipe is delicious! My husband and I loved this vegetarian book and use its recipes often. Bravo to both authors!

'In our village, the rocks had names.' With the first words I knew that I was going to delve into this book and would not bring myself to put it down until I had finished!
Set in 19th century Lebanon, The title "The Rock of Tanios" refers to a peculiar rock formation, looking like a great stone chair, that dominated the Lebanese village of Kfaryabda. The central characters are Sheikh Francis, a Christian Arab, and the sheikh's illegitimate offspring, Tanios. When I first started reading the book, I was on the quest to find why the rock was named after Tanios. Little did I know that that was the last thing that I was going to learn from this gripping tale. Through the fates and legends of these characters Maalouf creates a historical romance filled with local myths, political games, treachery, and love.
I would have to say that one of Maalouf's main themes is lost or forbidden love; how we fall in love with what's different from us, and discover we're different from what we thought we were.
And, it is forbidden love, which tears Tanios' family apart and drives him into exile.
Deceiving as hope might be, a twist in fate and luck brings Tanios back to his mother's bosom. Ironically, as he finally makes it to his beloved home, Tanios is left yet again as the estranged boy who did not truly know his own identity, or did he?
An amazing read, Maalouf has done it again. A prize well deserved for his fascinating imagination to mix true life with fiction.

This is the first book for Maalouf that I've read and he's since become my favourite author.

Make sure that you read Leo Africanus and Samarkand... I think they're somewhat better than Rock of Tanios as they have more fact and substance.

A wonderfull work by a good writer. Being Lebanese my self, I appreciate the way Amin shows the way of life in Lebanon during the era of Shiks and Emirs. He presented a fiction that addressed the human nature from different prespective: greed, power, ambition, love, respect, revenge, anger, lust, and above all the inner peychological confusion of a kid realising that his father may not be his real father, and all its results. I greatly enjoyed the inclusion of the Lebanese words in the book, though translated into English, you have to be Lebanese to truly feel the meaning.

For me also, this fiction shows that the way of life in the Lebanese village's life of the 1800s in its reality still have echos in the daily political life of today's Lebanon.

What can I say? I did not get very far with this one, the characters seemed like cardboard (the author says they were based on RPG characters). The action justs happens, you feel you need to be in the RPG campaign to get all the character info. I stopped reading it, but may continue sometime in the future. I am starting to believe that in the Science fiction and Fantasy genres only the woman authors are creating characters with any depth. If you are a fan of action, and want to read an RPG-type narrative then this may just be what you are looking for.

The best thing about this book is how it combines "dark and grim" stuff with funny stuff. Life in the Bronze Age was hard and brutal, and Stover portrays it as such. However, Stover peppers the book with genuinely humorous dialogue and characters, which keeps the tone from being too dark. Kheperu the unapologetic pervert was my particular favorite. Cynical, lewd, and cowardly, Kheperu spouts some of the books funniest lines, and somehow ends up doing the right thing. Barra is a strong, solid heroine, and should appeal both to fans of Xena and fans of The Mists of Avalon. The only bad thing about this book was when Barra suddenly developed the "sight", which seemed hokey. Overall, though, a highly entertaining read.

Though I love fantasy, I tend to avoid reading a lot of fantasy novels, as too many of them turn out to be one in a series of twelve, or doorstop epics with exhaustive appendices and interminable plotlines. That sort of thing is all well and good when one is in the mood for it, but sometimes you just want a light, rollicking adventure, and Iron Dawn delivers that in spades.

Following the exploits of three mercenaries in the Phoenician city of Tyre, Iron Dawn moves along crisply with brisk battles, witty banter, a straightforward plot and a cast of likeable (and hateable) characters. It isn't particularly grand or epic, as fantasy novels go, but it tells a good story and tells it very well. I devoured this book in a few days and gave it a place of honor on my bookshelf. I've already ordered the sequel and am eagerly awaiting it.

Amazon has shown this volume as being out of print, which is a real shame -- I urge you to pick it up used or find it if you can. It's a great read.

This book althought set in a world very different than my own, can be seen as universal. The trials of Zahra before the war and after the war show how a troubled woman with psychological disorders manages to survive in a somewhat difficult world. As an Arab woman with a psychological disorder, she is an outsider.

As Salwa Bakr notes in The Wiles of Men women are often seen as silly and crazy when they have psychological disorders.

Although the depiction of the war may not be as detailed or accurate as many wish, that is not what Al-Shaykh is trying to convey with this novel.

She is showing how the war is a catharsis for poor Zahra. While everyone's attention is towards the gory and war fears, Zahra is not pointed out as crazy and strange, she is able to live her own destiny.

This book is a page turner...highly recommended

No one claimed that the book depicts the truth about Lebanese culture but it is a GREAT story. The author had be hooked by the third page and I couldn't wait to finish it.

This book is NOT meant to give an accurate picture of Lebenese life during the war, but of the life of a girl who has physcological problems.

Makdisi's book is a remarkable testament to a shattered city that was raped, pillaged, battered, dismembered and physically left to die as a result of the civil war that raged from 1975 to 1990. The beauty of her writing lies in her heart wrenching simplicity and descriptive account of those terrible years seen through the eyes of a mother and teacher who witnessed the slow and lingering death of a city that she had grown to love. Every page is a testament to the people of Beirut who lived through the conflict and yet quite remarkably the passion that Makdisi feels for Beirut is heightened to dramatic effect whilst at the same time deploring the wages of war and how the city had become a playground for terrorist activities by largers players on the world scene. The people of Beirut were simply forgotten by the world and yet her love of humanity and how her hope remains unremitting is a shining example to mankind, amidst the carnage. A remarkable book, gripping and vivid, and a testimony to the belief that the human spirit can transcend all conflicts.

I have read many books about the Lebanese civil war but Ms. Makdisi's book is by far one of the best. It helps provide a unique perspective and a much-needed understanding of the Lebanese civil war and a generation which lost everything that the rest of the world takes for granted. Indeed, war only looks easy from far away.

I don't believe I've ever written a book review before but I wanted to recommend this book. I have not yet traveled to Lebanon but I have done alot of reading about this country and hope to visit soon. The book really gave a good picture of what it must have felt like to have lived in Lebanon during its civil war. I read the book in 2 or 3 days, couldn't put it down... After I read it, I sent it to a Lebanese friend of mine. He said it reminded him very much of his childhood. The Lebanese people are a wonderful people. So courageous... Able to find humor and beauty and wonder and appreciation in the most ordinary of things. Able to survive through years and years of turmoil. They have such an ability to adapt...and create strong community.