2275 Lebanon: Death of a Nation, by Sandra Mackey (read 10 Mar 1990) This book tells the tragic, searing story of Lebanon very well. and it covers no side with honor. Its chronology leaves something to be desired, but the book has brilliant writing and tells its awful story well. It shows American policy as naive and blundering--e.g., the New Jersey shelling of a Shiite village engendered great hatred of the US and fueled the hostage-taking which still haunts us today [1990}. Someday the horror of Lebanon today will end, but 1975 to 1990 has been a horrible time. The book seems so "immediate" because my son-in-law is so intimately connected with the whole period--he arrived in the US on July 4, 1979. ( )