Riding on Luck: Saga of the U.S.S. Lang (Dd-399) Book

The Book itself was amazing. Before I actually comment on the book, I would like to make a point about Kamal Salibi who is often cited as a credible historian. He often distorts the history of Lebanese Christians especially Maronites following financial support from Arabist lobbies and states. He falsely claimed that Maronites originated from Yemen which was proven false and ridiculous following countless Scientific Genetic studies on Lebanon within the past few years. Most of his writings try to discredit Maronite scholars and authors of the past and it just reeks of bias.

As for this book it was written well and simple for the reader to understand. Most of the history of the Maronites is very shrouded in darkness and especially after the Civil War many anti-Maronite ideologues have sought to distort the history of this persecuted people. Phares analyzes an independent state in modern day Lebanon which is why it is argued that Christians are the true creators of Lebanon as the notion and the historical reality of an independent region in Lebanon fought surrounding caliphates can be argued as the precursor to an almost identical struggle centuries down the line. This book is one of the few that clearly put together many Maronite histories into one. The maps are more or less rough outlines of the borders as we will never know how big or small these Maradaite states were. It is important to understand this early and dark age Maronite history before understanding contemporary Lebanon.