"What do moral people do when democracy countenances evil? The question, implicit in the idea that people can govern themselves, came to a head in America at the middle of the nineteenth century, in the struggle over slavery. John Brown's answer was violence--violence of a sort some in later generations would call terrorism. Brown was a deeply religious man who heard the God of the Old Testament speaking to him, telling him to do whatever was necessary...

A fascinating man. An impossible situation. Thousands of lives at stake. And he pulls off a miracle. That sounds like a formula for novel, and this book does read like one. But the story is true. It is the dramatic tale of how American diplomat Philip Habib worked out a peaceful end to the 1982 Israeli siege of Beirut. In June 1982, Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon set in motion a mammoth blunder. His invasion of Lebanon to destroy the PLO turned...