Irene Gendzier's critically acclaimed, wide-reaching analysis of post-World War II U.S. policy in Lebanon posits that the politics of oil and pipelines figured far more significantly in U.S. relations with Lebanon than previously believed.

Preface -- The Setting of U.S. Policy -- The Dynamic of Collaborative Intervention -- U.S. Postwar Policy and the Middle East -- Learning Lebanon: A Primer -- Formative Years in the Evolution of U.S. Policy: 1944-1952 -- Alternating Currents of Criticism and Conformity -- The Foundations of U.S. Policy, PACLIFT: Petroleum, Aviation, Commerce, Labor, Intelligence, and the Friendship Treaty -- Altered Circumstances and the Design of U.S. Political Strategy -- The Eisenhower Administration and the Sham'un Regime: A Policy of Information and Consent -- Pressure Points and Priorities -- Lebanon: The "Bridgehead in the Orient" -- Realities of Power in the "Rear Area" -- Our Man in Beirut -- Intervening before Intervention -- Civil War, May 1958 -- Doubt, Deliberation, and Preparation -- The Minefield Explodes: U.S. Military Intervention -- 11,000 Sorties in Search of a Target -- By Mutual Consent: July-October 1958 -- Epilogue: 1958 in Retrospect