Tribes With Flags: A Journey Curtailed

by Charles Glass

The ABC News correspondent's riveting chronicle of his journey through the Middle East--and being held hostage by pro-Iranian terrorists in Beirut.A New York Times Notable Book--with an introduction by the author.On June 18, 1987, Charles Glass was kidnapped by pro-Iranian terrorists in a Shiite Muslim suburb of Beirut and held for sixty-two days. His daring escape on August 18, 1987, made headlines worldwide. But Glass never forgot the reason he was in Lebanon or abandoned the idea of a book capturing the splendid vitality and diversity of life in the Middle East.Tribes with Flags is the book Glass always meant it to A chronicle of his journey from the southern Turkish coast, around the bay of Alexandretta, and through Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. Glass visited farms, slums, and refugee camps as well as royal friends in feudal palaces, capturing the entire spectrum of Levantine life. The journey ends with a gripping account of Glass's kidnapping in Beirut--an intimate portrayal of life as a hostage--and his successful flight to freedom."A literary and spiritual ramble through the countries of the Levant . . . Glass's account of two months' captivity and his escape bring to an exciting conclusion this engrossing, informative, unusual travel book." -- Publishers Weekly

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Middle East, History

288 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1990

About the author

Charles Glass is an author, journalist and broadcaster, who specializes in the Middle East. He made headlines when taken hostage for 62 days in Lebanon by Shi’a militants in 1987, while writing a book during his time as ABC’s News chief Middle East correspondent. He writes regularly for the New York Review of Books, Harper’s, the London Review of Books and The Spectator. He is the author of Syria Burning, Tribes with Flags, Money for Old Rope, The Tribes Triumphant, The Northern Front, Americans in Paris and Deserters: A Hidden History of World War II.

Reviews

[Ensiform · Rating 3 out of 5]

Glass, a journalist, travels from Turkey to Syria and Lebanon, intending to end his sojourn in the area (which he, using the archaic term, calls “The Levant”) at Israel. However, in the midst of interviewing of generals presidents, taxi drivers and unemployed youths, sitting with village elders drinking coffee, and getting caught up in a centuries-old and re-sparked clan feud, he is kidnapped by Shiite fundamentalists.

This has the makings of a fascinating travel narrative. Unfortunately, Glass seems to have very little idea of how to fine-tune prose. Some of the more glaring problems are temporal confusion (I often didn’t understand where Glass was in his story when he would refer to “a previous visit”), an odd tendency to dwell on people’s appearance and lineage, and – worst of all – a tiresome and needless verbatim reporting of all conversation. Often this verbatim report is deleterious rather than conducive to getting an idea or message across, since people ramble, or engage in conversational jousting, rather than express ideas clearly. Obviously, some quoting is justified: what Lebanese youths think about the movie “Platoon,” or interviews with Syrian taxi drivers, are great, but... “’When,’ I asked, ‘was the hotel built?” (Just tell the reader when!) "Shall we have orange juice?" (Just say, if you must, that you drank juice while talking.) "This labneh is delicious." "How long can it [Beirut's anarchy] go on?" (Isn’t that the whole point?) "When did this cafe close?" – We don't need to read every syllable of the pointless small talk people make in the daily course of their lives. There's even a lengthy dialogue beginning: "Do you know anything about this church?" "No." "When was it built." "I don't know." On the plus side, I did feel that the kidnapping story was interesting, and revealed a good deal about the kinds of people who become "militia" members in the Middle East, as well as the fundamentalists' purblindness to the absurdity of their own actions.

[May Jeong]

man travels to middle east. man consumes mezze drinks arak meets beautiful women gets kidnapped, escapes, returns home hero. glass has a great eye for detail (especially of the spacial variety.) what is completely amazing, is how every woman is described as attractive or pretty and not much else. an "attractive secretary" helps him find the library, and an "attractive young woman who worked behind the cash register in one book shop" passes time talking to him. there is an "attractive young woman" at a boutique, and another at the foreign affairs department. hookers are "pretty but a little fat," and he meets other women who are "strikingly beautiful," or the "prettiest," and otherwise seem to have no agency of their own other than being objects of beauty or scorn.

and yet, glass's account of his time indiana jonesing through the levant, of a time when "travellers had yet to become tourists" made me nostalgic for a time i hadn't even lived through.

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it slow going at first but the pace really picked up. It's an old book -- 30 years old -- but anyone who wants to learn the history of the Levant will find this book both human and humane. It's also really, really sad, especially the history of Lebanon.

[Melissa Cavanaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite good, and probably better since I was reading it in Lebanon. The plot gets derailed by the author's kidnapping, which is as good an excuse as any for not finishing a planned journey. All in all very engaging if occasionally a bit tough to keep up with all of the names and slog through the political factions he describes. Of course, the complexity of the Levant's recent history would be nearly impossible to make for easy reading.

[Mike Barton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book puzzles me as not a lot happens in it and yet I have read it , maybe, seven or eight times. The author documents a trip through the Levant. He records a lot of the conversations with and points of view of people along the way.

[Jeremiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

what a mess the middle east is based on this book, but it did show that not all Muslims are fanatical fundamentalist.

[Hadel Ma'ayeh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Historical account and detailed information of the region, Middle East.