The Shi'a of Lebanon: Clans, Parties and Clerics (Library of Modern Middle East Studies)

Roger Shanahan does an amazing job not only by narrating the history of the Shiites of Lebanon, but also by providing a comprehensive context that makes of this book one of the rare books on Lebanon's history.
After a brief chapter on their history since old times and medieval ages, Shanahan starts tracing the history of the Shiites and of their socioeconomic and political formation. The author dispels an old myth that throughout history, the Shiites had always been powerless players relegated to the back seat. He proves that like other communities of Lebanon, the Shiite political leadership witnessed its ups and downs while it practiced feudalism in its Lebanese form since the 17th century. The fortunes of the Shiites changed drastically during the 1970s with the Islamic revolution in Iran and the funds the Iranian regime finding their way to the Shiites of Lebanon. Henceforth the Shiite leadership became a major powerhouse in Lebanon.