Beirut Spy: International Intrigue In The Middle East

by Saïd K. Aburish

An insider's account of espionage, intrigue and conspiracy in the post-war Middle East, which reads like a thriller. It is peopled with real-life spies, politicians, journalists and diplomats, featuring such famous names as Kim Philby, Miles Copeland, Wilbur Crane and James Russell Barracks.

Genres: Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1989

About the author

Palestinian journalist and writer.

Saïd K. Aburish was born in the biblical village of Bethany near Jerusalem in 1935. One of his grandfathers was a Muslim judge of the Islamic High Court and a lecturer at the Arab college; the other was a village headman.

Aburish attended school in Jerusalem and Beirut, and university in the United States. He returned to Beirut as a reporter for Radio Free Europe and the London Daily Mail. He consulted for two Arab governments and written several books.

Reviews

[Sara Saab · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drily told, but behind it a world of hard-boiled espionage and a rotating door of kingmakers and regicide — all set at the tables and on the terrace of the St George Hotel bar in Beirut circa the 50s and 60s. World-opening history book, super happy to have stumbled upon it.

[Suzanne Zeitouni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spies, journalists, politicians, business tycoons and their favorite watering hole - The bar at St. George Hotel in Beirut. During the 50's-early 70's the plots, deals, and stories that came out of this famous hotel and its seaside bar are fascinating. Spies range from Kim Philby to Archie Roosevelt. Journalists from John Chancellor to Sulzberger. Politicians too numerous to count. Mix those all in with oil and banking tycoons of the day and you have the clientele of this long gone establishment; destroyed in the civil war that raged through Lebanon. The author was a Palestinian-born, American educated journalist from Radio Free Europe. He was a regular at the bar during its heyday along with his father, a journalist for New York Times and later Time magazine. The work is out of print, but I managed to find a copy in a bookstore on a recent trip to Lebanon.

[Bchara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable book. I read the Arabic translation. Now some stories may seem convoluted, and the author's decency forbids him from mentioning some names. The book contains very interesting chapters on Kim Philby, on the Sinai war, on Lebanese women politicians, on Lebanon's life in the roaring 50s and 60s. I read the book in a couple of days, and closed it with these two sentiments: sadness (what Lebanon was and what it became); and the desire to have a drink. Everyone in the book is drinking. So here's to alcohol, mankind's benefactor.

[Mano Chil · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nostalgic book on Beirut and its famous hotel, the Saint George.