Hiba Bou Akar

Columbia University

2019 Nikki Keddie Book Award Winner

This is a fascinating study of the redevelopment of the sectarian post-Civil War Beirut. Based on extensive fieldwork, this thoughtful ethnographic and historical study reveals the haunting legacy of that devastating war on the planning of three neighborhoods.  Elegantly organized and argued in a clear and compelling narrative voice, for the War Yet to Come traces how these neighborhoods developed into spaces designed to fit sectarian goals of major groups such as Hezbollah and the Maronite Church. Through a new interpretation of concepts such as frontier space, Bou Akar presents a powerful argument about how the logic of a sectarian power distribution in modern day Lebanon has left little room for an urban design that could project a hopeful future. This is an important and eye-opening work.

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