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ryno23's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 Stars -- a tick off because this is a non-fiction book collated and written by two writers, not a release of government documents. So, the use of redactions throughout the book was rather unnecessary.
Nevertheless, this is a stunning book. I was rather dense at the time the majority of this book was written -- the 1980s. I knew of the Iran Hostages of 1979-81, and I knew of the Beirut barracks bombing of American servicemen in 1983, but before this book, I couldn't tell you a thing about before, during or after that period.
****EDIT -- I never read others' reviews until I finish mine, and I feel a little better knowing that there were a lot of people, apparently around my age, that didn't know what happened below.****
I thought of using bullet points about what I learned in the first 15 pages, but I'll simply rattle them off.
Before outside countries got involved, the civil war in Lebanon, which began in 1975, was prior to Israel entering southern Lebanon. The poor majority Shiites thought they were liberators, but soon found out that the forces helped set up Israeli intelligence sites in the country.
This drew in Syria, and their Soviet-Union weapons into the conflict -- so that Russia is militarily backing Syria is not a new development.
Lebanon had a newly-elected president, and during a speech, someone backed by Syria put a half-ton of explosives in the room above where he was speaking that leveled the building. This really hurt the U.S., because, in listing CIA assets, not only was the president-elect one, but the head of Black September, the Palestinian group that assaulted the 1972 Munich Olympics, was a CIA asset.
This also brought in Iran into the mess. A 15-year-old Shiite boy drove a car filled with explosives into the Israeli military HQ, being the first suicide bomber outside of the Iran-Iraq War -- thanks to the Iranians.
All of this later led to the kidnapping of the CIA Chief of Station in Beirut, William Buckey, which was described into the Prologue and followed throughout the book. All told in the first 15 pages.
It is a very dense 360-page book, but a book that I won't forget.
Nevertheless, this is a stunning book. I was rather dense at the time the majority of this book was written -- the 1980s. I knew of the Iran Hostages of 1979-81, and I knew of the Beirut barracks bombing of American servicemen in 1983, but before this book, I couldn't tell you a thing about before, during or after that period.
****EDIT -- I never read others' reviews until I finish mine, and I feel a little better knowing that there were a lot of people, apparently around my age, that didn't know what happened below.****
I thought of using bullet points about what I learned in the first 15 pages, but I'll simply rattle them off.
Before outside countries got involved, the civil war in Lebanon, which began in 1975, was prior to Israel entering southern Lebanon. The poor majority Shiites thought they were liberators, but soon found out that the forces helped set up Israeli intelligence sites in the country.
This drew in Syria, and their Soviet-Union weapons into the conflict -- so that Russia is militarily backing Syria is not a new development.
Lebanon had a newly-elected president, and during a speech, someone backed by Syria put a half-ton of explosives in the room above where he was speaking that leveled the building. This really hurt the U.S., because, in listing CIA assets, not only was the president-elect one, but the head of Black September, the Palestinian group that assaulted the 1972 Munich Olympics, was a CIA asset.
This also brought in Iran into the mess. A 15-year-old Shiite boy drove a car filled with explosives into the Israeli military HQ, being the first suicide bomber outside of the Iran-Iraq War -- thanks to the Iranians.
All of this later led to the kidnapping of the CIA Chief of Station in Beirut, William Buckey, which was described into the Prologue and followed throughout the book. All told in the first 15 pages.
It is a very dense 360-page book, but a book that I won't forget.
jmcguoirk's review against another edition
5.0
Thanks for the history lesson refresher. Awesome. I became a teenager in 1987... I only remember snippets on the local news stations. What a mess.
Now what? It's a quagmire with no end in sight.
Thank you for writing FB and SK.
Now what? It's a quagmire with no end in sight.
Thank you for writing FB and SK.
victoriac's review
4.0
Excellent telling of not only the kidnapping and death of William Buckley, but of some of the genesis of unrest and terror in the Middle East. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
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