Born in the turmoil of the Lebanese civil war and Israel's twenty-year occupation of southern Lebanon, Hezbollah is many things to many people. To impoverished Lebanese citizens, it is a social services agency, offering assistance the government does not. To militant Lebanese Muslims, it is a political party determined to install a conservative Islamic government. To Israelis and most Westerners, Hezbollah is a terrorist organization bent on destroying Israel and attacking Western interests. Ann Byers expertly sorts through these perceptions of the group and gives readers entrance into the complex world of the Hezbollah.