David Hirst – författare

For at least the last half-century, Strehler has been an influential and integral part of European theatrical life; today he is most closely associated with the Teatro Piccolo in Milan, Italy's foremost repertory theatre. Outside Italy, Strehler is best known through his directorship of the Paris-based Théâtre de l'Europe, his opera productions, and the plays in the Piccolo repertoire which have toured widely. In this detailed study, David Hirst evaluates the particular qualities which typify Strehler's work: the lyrical realism which has become the hallmark of his mature style, the fusion of naturalism, epic theatre, commedia dell'arte and lyric opera, and the gift of interpretation and production. Hirst traces this unique style through Strehler's development from the foundation of the Piccolo to the present day and analyses his productions of Goldoni, Shakespeare, Brecht and Verdi among others.

For at least the last half-century, Strehler has been an influential and integral part of European theatrical life; today he is most closely associated with the Teatro Piccolo in Milan, Italy's foremost repertory theatre. Outside Italy, Strehler is best known through his directorship of the Paris-based Théâtre de l'Europe, his opera productions, and the plays in the Piccolo repertoire which have toured widely. In this detailed study, David Hirst evaluates the particular qualities which typify Strehler's work: the lyrical realism which has become the hallmark of his mature style, the fusion of naturalism, epic theatre, commedia dell'arte and lyric opera, and the gift of interpretation and production. Hirst traces this unique style through Strehler's development from the foundation of the Piccolo to the present day and analyses his productions of Goldoni, Shakespeare, Brecht and Verdi among others.

'An epic tale . . . told relentlessly well. If you want to read a serious account of the price of Zionism, and a sobering review of Israel's new role as conqueror and occupier, then Hirst is your man.' Christopher HitchensA myth-breaking general history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, The Gun and the Olive Branch traces events right back to the 1880s to show how Arab violence, although often cruel and fanatical, is a response to the challenge of repeated aggression.Banned from six Arab countries, kidnapped twice, David Hirst, former Middle East correspondent of the Guardian, is the ideal chronicler of this terrible and seemingly insoluble conflict. The new edition of this 'definitive' (Irish Times) study brings the story right up to date. Amongst the many topics that are subjected to Hirst's piercing analysis are: the Oslo peace process, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, the destabilising effect of Jewish settlement in the territories, the second Intifada and the terrifying rise of the suicide bombers, the growing power of the Israel lobby - Jewish and Christian fundamentalist - in the United States, the growth of dissent in Israel and among sections of America's Jewish population, the showdown between Sharon and Arafat and the spectre of nuclear catastrophe that threatens to destroy the region.'[Hirst's] peerless reporting has earned him curses, expulsion and respect in virtually every country in the region.' Guardian

'Beware of Small States' wrote Mikhail Bukanin in 1870. He could have meant Lebanon: a sectarian state no bigger than Wales that has become battleground for one of the defining conflicts of twentieth-century history. Throughout its short existence, it has been attacked, invaded, occupied or interfered with to serve the political interests of foreign powers, resulting a series of devastating wars and crises. To understand Lebanon's history is to understand the history of the entire region - and, with the rise of Hizbullah, it has come to assume a disproportionate, dangerous power of its own. Iran and Israel now face each other in the hills of south Lebanon.David Hirst, author of The Gun and the Olive Branch, is a hugely respected commentator on the Arab-Israeli crisis. In a masterly narrative, he gives a much-needed, comprehensive history of the country and its conflicts, culminating with the recent war in Gaza and its fallout in Lebanon. Powerful and often moving, Beware of Small States is a magisterial book, essential reading for understanding Lebanon or the current political climate of the Middle East.

A landmark collection of legendary Middle East correspondent David Hirst’s finest reporting.Over nearly a half century, David Hirst was The Guardian newspaper’s indispensable voice from the Middle East. He was a correspondent of rare courage, scholarship, and clarity, whose reporting on the region’s defining crises guided generations of readers through an otherwise impenetrable world. When other Western journalists fled Lebanon, Hirst stayed, living and working in Beirut for most of his adult life, surviving two kidnapping attempts, and filing from wars, sieges, and states of emergency across the region.This landmark book gathers the best of Hirst’s reporting from the 1967 Arab-Israel War through the Lebanese Civil War, repeated Israeli invasions of Lebanon, two Palestinian intifadas, and the 1991 Gulf War, down to the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Here are the dispatches and long-form analyses that earned Hirst a reputation as one of the great independent Western journalists of his era—a writer whose commitment to honest reportage saw him barred from six Arab countries. Hirst’s seminal work, The Gun and the Olive Branch (1977), was described as “the most malignantly anti-Israel book ever to be published in English,” while his senior Guardian editors were routinely upbraided by Israeli embassy officials for his coverage.Hirst’s journalism was, unusually, also scholarship. A graduate of the American University of Beirut, he brought an academic’s command of history to daily correspondence, along with a correspondent’s instinct for what mattered. These pieces reveal how prescient Hirst could be: on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s fatal compromises, on the Oslo process’s poisoned promise, on the structural violence of occupation, on the region’s leaders and their contradictions. It is reportedly one of Hirst’s greatest regrets that, as the still ongoing genocide in Palestine unfolded, he was unable to finish another revised edition of his book. In its stead, this magnificent retrospective will allow readers to apply his forensic analysis to the current crisis.

Den här boken om Palestinakonflikten är en av de bästa och utförligaste som skrivits i frågan på engelska. Den kom först ut 1977 och blev snabbt ett standardverk. Den har sedan dess utkommit i ytterligare två upplagor med en kraftig ökning och aktualisering av innehållet. Den utmärker sig genom att lika utförligt redogöra för hur palestinierna upplevt denna konflikt som judarna alltsedan 1800-talets slut. Den visar att det i huvudsak varit den sionistiska sidan som varit den aggressiva parten och att det är den som burit huvudansvaret för det våld som ägt rum sedan dess. Boken har därför utmanat konventionella uppfattningar i Västvärlden. Den har i stort sett ignorerats i USA men uppskattats desto mer i England och på andra håll. Det cirka hundra sidor långa tillägget i 3:e upplagan beskriver hur boken först bemöttes, särskilt de negativa reaktionerna på amerikanskt håll, hur debatten sedan dess förts, USA:s fullständiga reella accepterande av Israels politik, Osloavtalet och den andra palestinska intifadan. Författaren David Hirst, född 1936 i England, har sedan närmare femtio år varit Mellanösternrapportör för olika tidningar, baserad i Beirut. Han var The Guardians korrespondent där 1963-97. Efter en första bok om "Oil and Public Opinion in the Middle East" (1966) har han framför allt blivit känd genom "Sadat" (1981), den här boken "The Gun and the Olive Branch: Roots of Violence in the Middle East" (3. uppl. 2003) och "Beware of Small States: Lebanon, Battleground of the Middle East" (2010).