Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Hezbollah: Barnes & Noble recommended

Barnes & Noble.com Books - Norton, Augustus Richard

4 comments:

Courtney said...

I read your book over the weekend, and found it very readable and concise. However, I also had a few questions once I was done reading. First, have you published other works on Hezbollah? Second, I noticed that while your works cited list was rather inclusive, you did not include works by Magnus Ranstorp, who has done quite a bit of research regarding Hezbollah's role in the hostage crisis and on their militia strategies. Was there a reason to not include this source, or was it merely for the sake of brevity? Lastly, I was wondering if you have any thoughts on policy directs for the United States and others with respect to Hezbollah. I do not recall you making such comments, and for one would appreciate your perspective.

arn said...

Thank you very much for your comment and I am glad you found the book reader-friendly. I wrote this book with an interested general reader in mind. This is why the book is relatively brief (187pp.) and this is why I worked hard to make it "concise and readable" (to borrow your words).
When it came time to prepare the recommendations for further reading, I tried to pick the most-up-date and accessible books and articles. Thus, for the hostage crisis I chose "Man without a Gun" by Giandominico Picco. He was the UN negotiator who played the leading role in securing the hostages release at the end the 1980s and early 1990s. I consider Picco's book to be most authoritative account.
I am also aware of Ranstorp's book, and his other work, which I generally find quite capable and valuable, but I thought the Picco book was the better choice in this instance. There is a bibliography in my book as well titled "Sources Cited" and since Ranstorp is not cited in the text, he is not listed there. I have cited his work elsewhere in more specialized publications, and in a longer, more extensive book that I am working on now I certainly plan to cite his writings.
As for my other work, I will publish a bibliography later today of my own wrtings, which began more than a quarter century ago. My most cited publication is an antique book, published in 1987, titled Amal and the Shi'a. It now out-of-print but I hope it will be back in print by the end of the year with a new epilogue.

Anonymous said...

This is by far the best book on Hezbollah that I have read, and I have read all of them to date.
Charles

arn said...

Thank you Charles.