Lebanon is often at the top of international news headlines, always for negative reasons: massacres and bombings, kidnappings and hijackings, bankruptcy and explosions. If we consider what has happened in the country of the cedars over the past fifty years, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Lebanon has nine lives. How can we explain the paradox that a country with such a negative image attracts so much attention and sympathy? It is a question I have asked myself since I lived through five intense years in Beirut and realized that I have come to love the country and, above all, its people.
How did the fifteen-year civil war begin? Why does the country's political system continue to rely on an archaic system of 18 recognized religions? What is the role of the Greek Orthodox? What is (and what is not) Hezbollah? Who killed billionaire Prime Minister Rafic Hariri? What is a "temporary pleasure" marriage? Is reconciliation between Lebanon and Israel possible? What is the geopolitical dimension of Lebanese cuisine?
I try to give simple answers to these and other crucial questions in order to understand such a complex country.
"Lebanon, despite all its adversities, remains an irreplaceable laboratory of Muslim and Christian coexistence. Even today, despite the enormous challenges it faces, it is at the center of dialogue between cultures and religions. This is not an academic dialogue like those organized at international seminars, but a daily dialogue, a dialogue based on everyday coexistence."
Excerpt from the book
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