David Hirst

The Roots of Violence in the Middle East (Nation Books)

The Gun and the Olive Branch

Beware of Small States: Lebanon, Battleground of the Middle East

'Beware of Small States' wrote Mikhail Bukanin in 1870. He could have meant Lebanon: a sectarian state no bigger than Wales that has become battleground for one of the defining conflicts of twentieth-century history. Throughout its short existence, it has been attacked, invaded, occupied or interfered with to serve the political interests of foreign powers, resulting a series of devastating wars and crises. To understand Lebanon's history is to understand the history of the entire region - and, with the rise of Hizbullah, it has come to assume a disproportionate, dangerous power of its own. Iran and Israel now face each other in the hills of south Lebanon. David Hirst, author of The Gun and the Olive Branch, is a hugely respected commentator on the Arab-Israeli crisis. In a masterly narrative, he gives a much-needed, comprehensive history of the country and its conflicts, culminating with the recent war in Gaza and its fallout in Lebanon. Powerful and often moving, Beware of Small States is a magisterial book, essential reading for understanding Lebanon or the current political climate of the Middle East.

Lebanon, Battleground of the Middle East

Beware of Small States

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to communicate effectively without having the need to repeat yourself? Wouldn't it feel good to look forward to meeting people rather than worry about who is likely to upset you today? And wouldn't it be great to be recognized as an effective communicator who can be relied upon to clarify any misunderstandings?This book is the only guide to communication you will ever need. It delivers the latest approaches for interacting more effectively with other people from both a conscious and subconscious perspective. It takes you on a journey to uncover the secrets of excellent communication, and gives you step-by-step directions on how to arrive at this destination. Throughout the book there are 'Golden Guidelines' to help relationships become more enjoyable and rewarding. You can then develop greater confidence having learned how easy it is to put these into practice. And it's written in a plain English style to help you fully exploit its contents.

Change the Way You Interact with People Forever

How to Communicate with Anyone

David L. Hirst

Hirst David

For at least the last half-century, Strehler has been an influential and integral part of European theatrical life; today he is most closely associated with the Teatro Piccolo in Milan, Italy's foremost repertory theatre. Outside Italy, Strehler is best known through his directorship of the Paris-based Théâtre de l'Europe, his opera productions, and the plays in the Piccolo repertoire which have toured widely. In this detailed study, David Hirst evaluates the particular qualities which typify Strehler's work: the lyrical realism which has become the hallmark of his mature style, the fusion of naturalism, epic theatre, commedia dell'arte and lyric opera, and the gift of interpretation and production. Hirst traces this unique style through Strehler's development from the foundation of the Piccolo to the present day and analyses his productions of Goldoni, Shakespeare, Brecht and Verdi among others.

Giorgio Strehler

''Beware of small states, '' wrote the Russian anarchist Michail Bakunin, for they are the victims of greater states, yet a source of danger to them, too. Lebanon - a country half the size of Vermont - might almost have been designed to be the ''small state '' of the Middle East. It is the battleground on which the region's greater states pursue their strategic, political and ideological conflicts - conflicts that sometimes escalate into full-scale proxy wars. In this magisterial history of Lebanon, from the end of the Ottoman rule to the Hizbullah and Hamas wars of today, David Hirst, the acclaimed and fiercely independent Middle East journalist and historian, charts with extraordinary skill and lucidity the intricate interplay between Lebanon and its geopolitical environment. This history of Lebanon is also a history of the whole Middle East and above all, of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Several states from inside the region and beyond have impinged on Lebanon throughout its history, invading, attacking and occupying it, but none has done so more strenuously and disruptively than Israel. Hirst, who has been banned from traveling in six Arab states and was kidnapped twice during Lebanon's civil war, takes an unsparing look at Israel's role, providing extraordinary accounts of the invasions of 1982 and 2006, as well as Israel's ''shock and awe '' attack on Gaza in early 2009. Hirst warns that only serious diplomatic action from the new Obama administration can prevent the next ''proxy war '' spiraling into a conflict that engulfs the entire region.

David Hirst

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