Overview
Notes from the Minefield is a groundbreaking work in the analysis of postwar U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Challenging conventional views of the Cold War in the region, it offers a sophisticated interpretation of the ascendancy of U.S. interests, their economic and political connections, and their implications for U.S. politics in the Middle East. While the scope of the book is regional and international, its focus is decidedly local. Notes from the Minefield sheds new light on the extensive interests of the U.S. in Lebanon, and on its role in maintaining a conservative, confessional regime in Beirut. Gendzier brings a wealth of hitherto unexamined evidence to bear on the significance of he 1958 civil war and the objectives of U.S. military intervention in Beirut, an event that has long been the subject of trivial and diversionary explanations. For those interested in recent Middle East politics, the continuing Israeli-Palestinian struggle, the succession of civil wars in Lebanon, and the persistence of authoritarian regimes in the area, Gendzier’s book provides a searing expose.Gendzier draws upon a sweeping array of declassified sources of U.S. policy, including Defense and State Department documents, embassy communiqués, CIA records, and private interviews and correspondence. British records and an exhaustive compendium of secondary sources provide depth and alternative viewpoints. Notes from the Minefield is a compelling work for those interested in U.S. foreign policy, international relations, and the fate of democracy and secularism in Lebanon and the contemporary Middle East.