With the West's economic and security interests increasingly at stake in the Middle East, it is impossible to ignore Lebanon--a nation in all ways divided and tormented by the interplay between the West and the Arab world. Sandra Mackey delineates the multifarious culture that is Lebanon; carefully stripping away the complex stigmas of Lebanese politics, she brings each component into focus, priming readers on the conflicts between Sunni and Shia, Maronites and Druze, Christian and Muslim, Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Lebanon and Palestine, and Syria and Lebanon.Covering Lebanon's history through the civil war of 1975­89, and with a new introduction on recent developments, Mackey lays the groundwork needed to comprehend this often ill-understood country--offering insight into its role as the gateway between West and East, and bringing clarity of focus to the schisms that serve to divide and define Lebanon.