Fourth edition (May 2014): Hezbollah: A Short History

New Prologue and Expanded Afterword.

"Best introduction....succeeds in rising above the passions of the debate."--As'ad AbuKhalil (Journal of Palestine Studies).  Jimmy Carter reading Hezbollah.  "Best recent study on Hezbollah"--Fareed Zakaria (Newsweek). "Norton has pulled off a noteworthy feat by producing an accessible yet nuanced study of Hizbollah--a rare achievement in academic research."—Melani Cammett (MESA Bulletin). "[T]he most authoritative, up-to-date analysis of this enigmantic group....Piquant anecdotes and richly textured details make the book enjoyable reading."--Kristian P. Alexander (Middle East Policy). "A series of related essays, each concise and provocative, this is an excellent introduction for the novice."--Joel Gordon (Journal of Military History). “A cogent analysis of [Hezbollah's] emergence and impact on Lebanese politics”—Sheldon Kirsher (Canadian Jewish News). "Norton deserves praise for writing an insightful and multilayered work accessible to a wide...readership."—Rula Abisaab (Journal of Palestine Studies). "...thorough study of Hezbollah, updated with a new afterword in 2008, retraces Hezbollah’s history, from its emergence to its recent struggle against Israel in 2006."—Lina Zuhour (Arab Reform Initiative). "It's wonderful, the best I've read in English"--Anthony Shadid (2007 post). "For first time readers on Lebanon and Hizbullah I highly recommend..."—Sami Hermez (International Journal of Middle East Studies). “This short, authoritative book, based on first-hand experience, efficiently analyses [Hezbollah's] status"—Iain Fianalayson (The Times). "America's leading scholar on Hezbollah"—Joshua M. Landis. “Highly informative, jargon-free book...An objective account of the genesis and development of Hezbollah....Highly recommended.”—N. Entessar (Choice). “A good, concise survey by a perceptive student of the Lebanese Shia”—David Gardner (Financial Times). “Thorough, articulate portrait of Hezbollah”—Publishers Weekly. “Norton's timely Hezbollah chronicles that dramatic evolution and its sweeping implications for the region and beyond”—Jonathan Finer (Washington Post Book World). "Everyone who wants to understand the complexities of the Middle East . . . should read this book”—Bruce Elder (Sydney Morning Herald). “Recommended”—Harvard Bookstore. “Norton elucidates . . . domestic and international complexities in Hezbollah”—Allen McDuffee (In These Times). "He ends on a tentative note, voicing hope that Hezbollah will play a "constructive" role in Lebanon. One can only hope he's right."—David Rosenberg (Bloomberg News). “Short personal anecdotes from his time in Lebanon add both color and authority to the book”—Beryl C.D. Lipton (Harvard Crimson). “An excellent summary that ends with a dramatic question: ‘What next?’"—Kail C. Ellis (Middle East Journal). "An excellent primer"—(The Colby File). "Most fluent survey of Hezbollah to date_covers the Lebanese resistance group from its inception to the current Lebanese political crisis”—Margeret Hall (Washington Report on Middle East Affairs). : “In an easily read, easily comprehended book, Norton traces the origins and history of Hezbollah”—Suzi Brozman (Atlanta Jewish Times) “The many complex and often changing dimensions of Hezbollah are presented in the book in a clear, concise manner”—Rami G. Khouri (Daily Star). "Suggested reading"--(NPR). "There is no better person to address these questions…than Norton, who has been studying Lebanon, and especially the Lebanese Shiites, for longer than Hezbollah has been in existence. He offers here a brisk and balanced history"—L. Carl Brown (Foreign Affairs).  

Kindle version.
iTunes book.
Google Play.
Barnes and Noble.
Kno ebook.
Kobo ebook.

Another reason not to buy Cardscan to manage your contacts

DISCONTINUANCE NOTICE

Dear At Your Service user,
DYMO CardScan has decided to discontinue our At Your Service program effective Dec 31, 2011. Due to the cost of the hardware and network bandwidth up keep, a business decision was made to discontinue the no cost CardScan At Your Service online database program.
We apologize for the inconvenience but users of AYS will no longer continue to use it to back up their contacts, as well as to access their contacts remotely over the web, as the service is completely shut down.
Just as a reminder, our End User License Agreement specifically states that services provided in addition to the CardScan software application can be modified or discontinued at any time.

Sincerely,

The DYMO team

See my earlier post on the disappointing product support.

Measured review of Vali Nasr's encomium to the rising Muslim middle class

"

Whether Nasr is strolling along the Bosporus with a Turkish friend, dining with a colonel in Ankara, enjoying an Iranian watermelon with Iraqi soldiers in Basra on a hot summer day in 2008, visiting the Jamkaran Mosque outside of the clerical city of Qom in Iran, speaking on the telephone with an old friend in Lahore, recounting his grandfather’s pride at being selected in 1928 by Reza Shah to study in the West, or surfing the Web for signs of “prophets of change” and music that appeals to the “youth bulge,” he sees signs that the rising middle class increasingly looks to tradition, even if unwittingly invented, “to help navigate the currents of change” (p. 184).

My Review of CardScan Personal

Originally submitted at Dymo [I see that they did not post this review, written originally on the Dymo Website.]

Poor product support--no drivers for Windows 7 64bit

By ARN from Boston, MA on 3/6/2010

1out of 5

Pros: Easy To Transport, Scans Accurately, Good Resolution

Cons: Difficult To Sync

Best Uses: Syncing Contacts

Describe Yourself: Gearhead

I have had two Cardscan devices. The latest is 60ii. Mine only works as advertized with an XP Pro computer. The company has done nothing to provide drivers for Windows 7, not to mention 64 bit OS.
I would not recommend the product at all. It is a decade out of synch with technology.

[Update: they are now offering to sell update/driver for Windows 7 for $80; very cheesy support]

(legalese)

A dispassionate but devastating review of Feith's "War and Decision"

Reviews
The review appears in the July issue of Army, the organ of the Association of the US Army (AUSA), which is a private, but closely-linked group to which many officers belong. The reviewer is Derek Leebaert, a military historian, who teaches at Georgetown U. Incidentally, while most officers will not say so on the record, in private conversations there is often deep contempt expressed toward some of the top military brass and civilians appointees (including Feith) for their failures in leadership and decisionmaking in Iraq (e.g., check out this bright retired officer). In discussions I have had, as recently as this summer, I have discerned serious concern about the health of the over-committed army. There is also widespread concern about the fate of Afghanistan (alluded to in the Leebaert review).

Here is most of the closing paragraph of the review.

"War and Decision obliges readers to consider what a “national security expert” and politically appointed “strategists” might actually be. Again the nation has encountered “the best and brightest,” the iconic term placed on the country’s national security decision makers of a generation ago, such as Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and National Security Adviser Mc-George Bundy, who had all the answers to all of the questions about Vietnam. In War and Decision, we have a true to life, though unintended, portrait of men and women also not knowing what they did not know, who appear to have been in the grip of that most dangerous of illusions—that they have no illusions at all."

Trenchant and often perceptive review of Sanchez and Feith

Boston Review — Fault Lines

My earlier comment here on Douglas Feith.

Prof. L. Carl Brown of Princeton reviews Hezbollah: A Short History - Augustus Richard Norton

Foreign Affairs - Book Review - Hezbollah: A Short History - Augustus Richard Norton

"Although Hezbollah was founded roughly a quarter of a century ago, no one is quite sure what, exactly, it is. The "A-team" of Islamist terrorist groups, as one U.S. official put it, or Lebanese Shiite freedom fighters? Cat's-paw of the Islamic Republic of Iran, or a distinctly Lebanese political grouping organized, just like others, along sectarian lines, with ties to specific outside powers? Religio-political movement with uncompromising ideological goals, or a well-organized political party in the welter of Lebanon's political pluralism? There is no better person to address these questions -- and, indeed, to demonstrate the fallacy of such stark either-or options -- than Norton, who has been studying Lebanon, and especially the Lebanese Shiites, for longer than Hezbollah has been in existence. He offers here a brisk and balanced history -- which is to say, he traces an evolution over time -- of Hezbollah while situating the party in the larger Lebanese and regional contexts."

A recent and thoughtful review

(Photo of a Steimatzky Bookstore window on Dizengoff St. in Tel Aviv)

Hezbollah: A Short History

So far the book has also provoked one screed in the Jerusalem Post, where the snarly reviewer was angered by a book that did not suit his prejudices.