The New School Graduate Program in International Affairs

A PRIVILEGE TO DIE

Inside Hezbollah's Legions and Their Endless War Against Israel

Thanassis Cambanis explains why Hezbollah has emerged as the premier threat to both Israel and the West.

NEW YORK BOOK LAUNCH EVENTS

7 P.M., MONDAY, SEPT. 27, 2010: HALF KING BAR, 505 WEST 23RD ST.

7 P.M., TUESDAY, SEPT. 28, 2010: BARNES & NOBLE, UPPER WEST SIDE, 2289 BROADWAY @ 82ND ST.

How has Hezbollah, which has now won two wars with Israel, managed to become the most powerful movement in the Islamic world, why has it gained millions of followers, and what do they want? Part standing army, part political party, and part theological movement, Hezbollah has created a revolution in the Middle East and is uncompromising in its intentions to remake the map of the Middle East and destroy Israel.  Veteran Middle East correspondent Thanassis Cambanis offers the first detailed look at the surprising cross section of people willing to die for this movement: not just unemployed young men, but middle-class engineers, merchants, even nurses. Cambanis introduces us to the "soccer moms" of Hezbollah, the rank-and-file devotees who do Hezbollah's grassroots work on the battlefields, in politics, in nightclubs, and with scout troops - and have ushered in a militant renaissance in across the Middle East.

 

"Brilliant and revealing. It positively frightened me. Cambanis tells an important story with emotional power."

--Leslie Gelb, President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations

 "A gripping, street-level view of Hezbollah. Cambanis brings Hezbollah out of the shadows to show how it has become the world's most sophisticated resistance group."

-- Richard Engel, Chief Foreign Correspondent, NBC News, author of War Journal

"No global flashpoint today is more important than the Hezbollah-Israel conflict, and no book I know does a better job than A Privilege to Die in getting inside the thought-world of Hezbollah's followers. Nuanced, textured, and brutally honest, the book should be required reading for anyone who cares about war and peace in the Middle East."

-- Noah Feldman, Harvard Law School, author of Scorpions

"A refreshing and insightful journey into a one of the most complex dynamics in the modern Middle East."

-- Farnaz Fassihi, The Wall Street Journal, author of Waiting for an Ordinary Day

Thanassis Cambanis covered the Middle East and Iraq as a bureau chief for The Boston Globe for four years beginning with the invasion of Iraq in 2003. He has covered the Arab world on assignment for The New York Times and other publications. He teaches journalism and foreign policy at the New School's Graduate Program in International Affairs and Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.