Book description
This timely portrait of Lebanon exposes the fault lines that underlie
the current crisis in the Middle East, and charts the country s attempts
to rebuild a fragile peace after its long civil war and recent conflict
with Israel. Part reportage, part travel narrative, Paradise Divided
chronicles the delicate web of relationships that make up contemporary
Lebanese society. Drawing on interviews with community leaders and
relationships with ordinary people, it reveals a richly-textured social
and religious fabric in which Sunni and Shia Muslims, Druze and
Christians of all kinds, from Maronite Catholics to evangelical
Protestants, strive to maintain a delicate balance. It offers an insight
into how Lebanon s religious communities, their identities formed by
history, landscape and their relationships with one another, came to be
what they are today and how their different perspectives can lead to
potentially destructive tensions. What emerges is a quintessentially
Middle Eastern form of coexistence, poised between tolerance and
sectarianism a theme powerfully developed through the author s
privileged access to the normally secretive Druze. The reader follows
the country s changing fortunes after the assassination of former Prime
Minister Rafik Hariri, the subsequent pro-democracy movement and
withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanese soil. The final chapters
examine the aftermath of Israel s military campaign and the emergence of
the new battle dividing Lebanese society as opposing camps struggle to
have their vision for Lebanon made reality. Paradise Divided opens a
window onto a country little-visited by Westerners for decades, and one
very different from the war-torn images of the Middle East that dominate
our television screens. Offering a unique view of the struggle between
sectarianism and tolerance, and the relationship between the Arab world
and the West, it is a book which sheds light on some of the central
issues of our time. This timely portrait of Lebanon exposes the fault
lines that underlie the current crisis in the Middle East, and charts
the country s attempts to rebuild a fragile peace after its long civil
war and recent conflict with Israel. Part reportage, part travel
narrative, Paradise Divided chronicles the delicate web of relationships
that make up contemporary Lebanese society. Drawing on interviews with
community leaders and relationships with ordinary people, it reveals a
richly-textured social and religious fabric in which Sunni and Shia
Muslims, Druze and Christians of all kinds, from Maronite Catholics to
evangelical Protestants, strive to maintain a delicate balance. It
offers an insight into how Lebanon s religious communities, their
identities formed by history, landscape and their relationships with one
another, came to be what they are today and how their different
perspectives can lead to potentially destructive tensions. What emerges
is a quintessentially Middle Eastern form of coexistence, poised between
tolerance and sectarianism a theme powerfully developed through the
author s privileged access to the normally secretive Druze. The reader
follows the country s changing fortunes after the assassination of
former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the subsequent pro-democracy
movement and withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanese soil. The final
chapters examine the aftermath of Israel s military campaign and the
emergence of the new battle dividing Lebanese society as opposing camps
struggle to have their vision for Lebanon made reality. Paradise Divided
opens a window onto a country little-visited by Westerners for decades,
and one very different from the war-torn images of the Middle East that
dominate our television screens. Offering a unique view of the struggle
between sectarianism and tolerance, and the relationship between the
Arab world and the West, it is a book which sheds light on some of the
central issues of our time.
