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Summary: Reliving the war
Review: Reading Fisk's book, I relived my own childhood. I grew up in Beirut in the late 70's and the early 80's. I lived the nights of horor when the invasion started, everyone thought that we will be massacred, and wasn't that what happened in Sabra and Shatil? We fled to the Bekaa passing by the Lebanese mountains, and I saw the Christian Milisha standing side by side with the Israeli army. With Fisk's book, I found the words that described this whole web of events. I knew whom to blame, and I just thank him.
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Summary: The best book available on the Lebanese civil war, period.
Review: Robert Fisk is a journalist but also a historian and an extremely talented writer. He has lived in Lebanon for 23 years now, not just to cover the stories there and throughout the Middle East, but because it is home to him and because he cares deeply for the Lebanese people. This is apparent in his book. Unlike just about all other books on the subject, Pity The Nation covers the war from a far more personal perspective. Mr. Fisk lets you know exactly what all the bombs and artillery shells did to normal people when they fell on their neighborhoods. He also gives an unprecedented view of the every day life of a war correspondent; the hardships, the horror, the fear, and even the boredom.If you're a blind supporter of Israel, the PLO, any of the Lebanese factions, Syria, or even the US government, be prepared for some unpleasant truth! But whatever the case, do read this book. You won't find this level of detail in ANY of the other popular books on the subject.
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Summary: fisk is riveting and enthralling
Review: Robert Fisk is so adept at asking the tough questions that virtually everyone accuses him of being sympathetic to the other side. In _Pity the Nation_, he exposes their savage and brutal behavior of the parties in the Lebanon conflict. The list of people who Fisk challenges reads like a who's who of the killers in the Middle East: Assad, Begin, Sharon, Arafat, Gemayel, Haddad - the list goes on. In a time when everyone's reporting seems so colored by ideology and loyalties, Fisk is refreshingly honest and even-handed.
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Summary: Telling it from the heart
Review: Robert Fisk tells it from the heart, he is phenomenal, straightforward not to mention honest. I find it rare in today's journalism especially in the States where someone actually brings out the facts and links the events to their origin, stuff like that will never be on CNN, MSNBC, FOX, CBS etc.I truly recommend this book for the average American that has been so blind by our media
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Summary: Important for an understanding of the Middle East
Review: Robert Fisk's fine book is a quality source of information for those seeking a better knowledge of Middle East conflicts.Not only will you learn of Lebanon's predicament but also how a type of terrorism developed,particularly in regard to the situation the Shiites found themselves in. Also,if you want a corrective to the corporate media's "Israel as innocent victim" fairy tales, this book is just what you need.
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Summary: The Sorrow of Lebanon
Review: Robert Fisk(Beirut correspondent for "The Independent) was recently the target of death threats and vicious emails for his honest and unbiased reporting from the Middle East.
"Pity the Nation" is a readable and riveting account of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, and the consequences of the same for the Palestinians, Lebanese and the rest of the Middle East. This is essential reading for understanding the current situation in the Middle East, and all the more timely considering the current US posture towards Iraq.
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Summary: A riveting masterpiece of quintessential journalism
Review: Sometimes it's hard to read this book two nights in a row. You reach a point where you are forced to take a break. You stop reading for three days. But then you delight in the guilty pleasure of being able to read again. You deeply wish you could finish the book in one night, but your sanity betrays and you're stopped again. You are a heroin addict craving the fatal powder. You're hooked on the taste of the gun barrel that Fisk savagely shoves in your mouth. Between true-life stories of babies literally burnt in flames because of poisonous gas, dumped in water tubs for hours to extinguish, and then burning again as soon as the doctors take their bodies out of the water, you wonder why you should go through this. But you do. And you do it passionately. No matter how deeply it cuts, you keep coming back for more. This is the power of 'Pity the nation', a fruit of 26 years of journalism in Lebanon. The swamp where everyone: Americans, Israelis, Palestinians, Syrians and even United Nations soldiers, have been humiliated and killed. Fisk is a storyteller at heart, and his superlative language capability spanning almost 700 pages make this a must-read, even for readers that are unconcerned with Lebanon. It's also one of rare example of what a journalist should be. Reporting from inside the Israeli tanks 'while sipping Lebanese beer with soldiers- as they invaded Beirut, climbing over dead bodies in Palestinian camps to overview one of the massacres, and visiting a Nazi concentration camp to report on the Holocaust, Fisk remains the quintessential brand name journalist. Even the hardest critics of the book couldn't pinpoint what side he took while reporting from this Middle Eastern hell. But Fisk was always biased towards the hard-to-swallow truth. He exposes the dark side of all politicians, Arab and Jew, stating that there were no good guys in Lebanon.
This book redefines journalism like no other, but more importantly, it shows that true journalism comes with a price. For the writer explains that politicians in Lebanon were stung by a dragonfly, with the itch growing bigger until it became fatal. But Fisk walked along through the Lebanese swamp for 26 years, and he was also stung by the dragonfly. He, like the readers of his book, miraculously remained sane and focused throughout the journey, but he and his readers have lost their innocence, forever.
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Summary: Riveting!!!!
Review: The work stands above anything written by any contemprorary historian or journalist covering the Middle East. The questions, eye witness accounts, insights, and volume of information is overwhelming. Whereas Robert Fisk paints a dark portrait of the Israelis, he doesn't pull any punches describing the Palestinians either. Heroes and victims all using words and deeds to muddy the water in their favor. Nobody leaves this book without a profound sense of the depth of differences and issues necessary to address before any peace can really be achieved in the Middle East.
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Summary: Tragedy of Lebanon effectively blamed mainly on Israel
Review: This book is a heroic account of the suffering and tragedy of this small but historically significant nation. I have read several other books regarding events in Lebanon in the last thirty years including "Israel's Lebanon War" and "From Beirut to Jerusalem". I appreciate the author's commitment to journalism and to the people of Lebanon. The main complaint I have is that his years in Lebanon have biased his outlook and clouded his judgement. I find that many Westerners tend to hold Israel to higher standards than her Arab neighbors. This is a racist point of view to take. Why is it understandable for us to hear of Arabs slaughtering Arabs (and un-newsworthy as well), yet if Israel has the slightest involvement even as bystanders in a war crime they are smeared all over the media? One walks away from this book with the belief that most of Lebanon's tragedies never would have occurred had it not been for Israel. Read "From Beirut to Jerusalem" to get a view less biased of Israeli involvement and this book for the scale of the horror that has occurred in Lebanon.
Rating:
Summary: Tragedy of Lebanon effectively blamed mainly on Israel
Review: This book is a heroic account of the suffering and tragedy of this small but historically significant nation. I have read several other books regarding events in Lebanon in the last thirty years including "Israel's Lebanon War" and "From Beirut to Jerusalem". I appreciate the author's commitment to journalism and to the people of Lebanon. The main complaint I have is that his years in Lebanon have biased his outlook and clouded his judgement. I find that many Westerners tend to hold Israel to higher standards than her Arab neighbors. This is a racist point of view to take. Why is it understandable for us to hear of Arabs slaughtering Arabs (and un-newsworthy as well), yet if Israel has the slightest involvement even as bystanders in a war crime they are smeared all over the media? One walks away from this book with the belief that most of Lebanon's tragedies never would have occurred had it not been for Israel. Read "From Beirut to Jerusalem" to get a view less biased of Israeli involvement and this book for the scale of the horror that has occurred in Lebanon.
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