Covenant Love & Death in Beiru

A superb piece of work. Only someone with "inside" information could have written a book with so much details, showing unfortunately dirty (local, regional and international) politics. Politics that killed, probably what was known to be as one of the best places to live in. It is sad and ironic to see world powers leave such a country to disintegrate and die leaving it at the mercy of its meddling and envious neighbours.

Imagine that a foreigner to Lebanon knows more about it than the Lebanese themselves. It's a great history book, and one would have to read it to really know what was happening in Lebanon.

When I started reading this book, I thought it was just another fairy tale written by a reporter who was seeking fame and fortune. I was wrong. the events in this book are acurate, and the story in all is very intense. I congradulate miss Neman for her honesty and courage. I would love to meet and share some stories with her one day since I grew up in the Covenant's home town... No matter what was said about Shiek Basshir, and no matter what he had done, HE WAS TRULY THE ONLY HOPE LEBANON HAD..

If you have ever lived in the Middle East and still need a clear understanding of the situation in Lebanon, read this book! While there is a personal "romance" side to the book, it gives great detail and explanation to the confusing state of affairs in Lebanon - having lived there for 17 years during the time frame of the events in this book, I found myself understanding the turmoil, seeing things in a clearer picture, and longing to return to this once Paris of the Middle East. Barbara made a promise to tell the truth about Bashir Gemayel, about his short presidency, and most of all, about his realistic plans for a stabilized Lebanese government. She captured his vision and expresses it well - his ideas of defeating the old system and bringing a democratic system of government into existance that combined Muslim and Christian interests and refocused them into a united Lebanese idealism.

In a time where people were afraid to tell the truth, Barbara came and did it. She was not afraid of telling the truth. I read the book in couple of hours, I could not stop reading. I was glued to the book maybe because I am Lebanese and familiar with the situation, or maybe I just wanted to know what really happened in my country. I recommend every lebanese to read this book, and seek the truth from it. 15 years later, other players started coming out clean and repeating the same thing that Barbara said in her book. It is amazing that you can never hide the truth forever.