Lebanon, a shattered country : myths and realites of the wars in Lebanon / Elizabeth Picard ; translated from the French by Franklin Philip.

Includes bibliographical references(pages 189-193) and index.

Long a bridge between the Middle East and the West, a meeting ground of Islam and Christianity. Lebanon was a prosperous symbol of the harmonious coexistence of different ethnic and religious communities. After 1975, however, the "Switzerland of the Middle East" seemed to be transformed into a combat zone where the flames of violence fanned every ethnic, religious, and political rivalry in the region. With impartiality and precision, Picard traces the evolution of Lebanon from its founding to the present.

She analyzes the causes and effects of the civil war - what and who have been destroyed, which powers have predominated and to whose benefit - and she explores realistic solutions to the conflict. Picard also provides a remarkably revealing account of the PLO, Israeli, and Syrian interventions in Lebanese politics.