But Lebanon cannot afford these conflicting visions if it is to develop and maintain a sense of political community.
Both groups have used nationalist ideas in a destructive game which at a deeper level involves archaic loyalties and tribal rivalries. From the beginning Muslims and Christians have disagreed fundamentally over their country’s historical legitimacy. The Lebanese have always lacked a common vision of their past. How can this be? In this outstanding book a famous Lebanese historian examines in the light of modern scholarship the historical myths on which his country’s warring communities have based their conflicting visions of the Lebanese nation. But paradoxically the faction-ridden Lebanese, both Christians and Muslims, have never shown a keener consciousness of common identity. Today Lebanon is one of the world’s most divided countries – if it remains a country at all.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.Publisher: I B Tauris & Co Ltd. This book also gives a masterly account of how the imagined communities that underlie modern nationalism are created and will be of interest to students of international affairs as well as Near Eastern scholars. In so doing, he illuminates important facets of his country's present and future. Salibi offers a major reinterpretation of Lebanese history and provides remarkable insights into the dynamic of Lebanon's recent conflict. He shows that Lebanon cannot afford this divisiveness, that in order to develop and maintain a sense of political unity, it is necesary to distinuish fact from fiction and then build on what is real in the common experience of both groups. How can this be? In the light of modern scholarship, a famous Lebanese writer and scholar examines the historical myths on which his country's warring communities have based their conflicting visions of the Lebanese nation. Today Lebanon is one of the world's most divided countries.
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