This book combines a vast encyclopedic history of the war in Lebanon with a penetrating sociological analysis. Tracing the war to its origins, the author shows that it has been primarily a surrogate war over Palestine which escalated into a conflict between the diverse Lebanese communities, each afraid of being the player left standing in a macabre game of musical chairs. Hanf's central theme is the problem of conflict and conflict regulation between these groups. How were conflicts regulated peacefully before the war? How did the country come to be the battlefield of both a surrogate war and...