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Summary: An "eye" wrote
Review: Amazingly, and for the ultimate purpose of objectivity in reporting, Fisk spares his opinions and comments over what he saw and lived... he reported afterall. No matter how skeptical someone can be, he cannot deny all of Fisk's reports. Anyways, even by trusting 10% of what Fisk's has reported from Lebanon is utterly moving.
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Summary: Brilliant. The best journalistic book I have ever read.
Review: As he does so regularly for the English newspaper "The Independent", Fisk provides a brilliant account and analysis of Lebanon. He is particularly good on the misreportage of events by the Western media, and on the Israeli propaganda machine, and his account of the kidnapping of his friend Terry Anderson is superb. Reading this book leaves you both sad and angry. Good accompanying reading is William Dalrymple's "From The Holy Mountain," in which he interviews Fisk.
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Summary: Dear Mr. Fisk
Review: Dear Mr. Fisk I'm a Lebanese citizen, my name is Sami, I live in Beirut near Ein El Mraissy where you used to live while you were in Lebanon.Yesterday, I just finished reading your amazing book (Pity The Nation), I read it in the Arabic version. I was born in 1975, and I was a child when the Lebanese war began, I only remember from it is the Israeli occupied of Beirut in 1982, and I remember that because the Israeli soldiers try to take my brother away (My brother died later in February 6, 1984, while he's coming back from his work, he was only 19). and I also remember the street battles between Amal and Hizb Allah in 1986 or 1987, and finally the war between the Syrians and Michael Aoun in 1989. Allow me to tell you how I liked you. I liked your style of writing, I liked your insistence to still in Lebanon with all the dangerous there, and with all the hard attempts to kidnapped you from some peopel you know them very well. Believe me, I wished to be more older than I'm now just to watch all the important events that you mentioned in the book. I didn't even imagine that all these things really happened in Lebanon, my father only say to me that there was a war in Lebanon, but with no details. Maybe because of what he saw of all the sad things in his life and the death of my brother. If you still contact Mr. Terry Anderson please send him my regards, and please tell him not to change his mind about the Lebanese people. And also if you still contact G. C. your Bolivian friend and Shahrazad Faramarzi from Iran too. Have you visited Lebanon recently?There are some changes here, but still the same things in South Lebanon as you know. Sami Traboulsi Technical Engineer Beirut, Lebanon December 3, 1999
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Summary: The complete history of the lebanese civil war
Review: I just want to say that this book is the best book i've ever read about the lebanese war.The most thing i like about this book and mr Fisk is the courage and fearless that appear in this book. For the first time in my life i can read a book that israel involves in and be satisfied.For the first time in my life I can say truely what happened in lebanon _the country i love and adore_ Gentlemen, i've read a lot of books about israel,lebanon,and arab _espcially about terrorisme during the arab_israeilian war_ and i want to say just this: it's right that they were and still some terrorist in the meadle east ,but the biggest terrorist organization is israel._that's what i could conclude from this book
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Summary: Overrated One-sided Account of Lebanese Civil War
Review: Pity the Nation would have ended up being a reference book for the Lebanese civil war if only it had been written by an impartial journalist. Robert Fisk is anything but.
Mr. Fisk could have used the advantage - if living in war-torn Beirut could be considered as one - of being an eyewitness and an outsider to one of the more brutal civil wars of the latter part of the 20th century to write a fairly unbiased account of the events. He chose to disregard objectivity and opted for biasness, his own political beliefs overshadowing the events that he was covering and masquerading as impassioned pleas for tolerance and forgiveness.
Instead of attempting to cover as many sides of the story as possible (and there are several: Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian, Israeli, American, French, Italian, Christian, Muslim, Druze, Jewish, etc.), instead of trying to stay as detached as possible (an admittedly difficult task in a stressful war environment), Mr. Fisk identified too closely with his environment, "went native" and covered the story from one narrow angle: the prevailing politics of his home base of West Beirut.
Sure, Mr. Fisk took great pains to indicate that he used to roam around Lebanon to get close(r) to the story. His forays outside of West Beirut remain more akin to a tourist's view than an in-depth account of the events that he was witnessing. Just like the journalists in his book who reported on the war without leaving the relative safety of the Commodore Hotel in Beirut, Mr. Fisk's reporting rarely ventures outside of familiar territory. Herein lays the main weakness of the book.
The book - minus the author's overly developed politics and personal beliefs - is still valuable as an eyewitness account of some of the major events of the Lebanese civil war. It is a must read for those readers who can differentiate between dogma and history and who are not swept away by the author's impressive credentials
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Summary: The Authoritative Book on Modern Lebanon
Review: Quite simply put, the best book on "modern" Lebanese history and events you will ever read. Told from first person accounts of his experiences living and reporting from Beirut from 1975 onwards, this book contains many personal details, interesting anecdotes, and an encyclopedic narrative of Lebanese politics throughout the entire period of the Lebanese civil war. If you want to learn about Lebanon, you need only read this book and Kemal Salibi's "House of Many Mansions" to obtain a fairly good grasp.
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Summary: A good book , without indulgence
Review: Robert Fisk has spent the last 25 years in Lebanon. He brings the skills of a dedicated reporter, the objectivity of an outsider and the knowledge of a local to the subject. The most compelling thing about this incredible book is the quantity and quality of eye witness testimony. Robert tells the story as only one who has been there can. Another striking thing about this book is Robert's desire to be exact and precise. Everything is cited and referenced. If you hold a bias for one of the many sides in this sorry conflict you will probably find yourself nodding vigorously sometimes and shouting angrily at others. Those with an open mind will just be horrified. Regardless of the ebb and flow of politics and war it is always the poor, the weak the silent that suffer. Robert gives them a feint voice.
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Summary: Invaluable account of Lebanon's civil war
Review: Robert Fisk's _Pity the Nation_ is both a sincere, difficult account of Lebanon's long and bloody civil war, and a revealing window into a truly inspirational writer-reporter. Fisk risks life and limb, literally, as any person in the region taking cover from oncoming fire and shrapnel, caught in the midst of bombing, or unexpectedly halted by military men, to get the real story beneath "official" versions. In doing so he discloses the human, off-the-camera side of the war's principal leaders - who exposed seem small, often disagreeable - as well as its common folk, both participants and unwilling in-betweens, Israeli, Maronite, Druze, Syrian, and Palestinian. For anyone desiring to understand the causes of war of this nature and the human and psychological elements behind it, as well as the bravery of one man who has tried to present the story to us honestly, _Pity the Nation_ is absolutely invaluable.
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