The Calamities, by Ameen Rihani

This is the second edition of the book "The Calamities," whose correction and printing were supervised by Albert Rihani, brother of Ameen Rihani.

"The Calamities" is the title of a book Rihani brought out in 1928; it is a summary of the history of Syria from the first age after the Flood down to the era of the Republic in Lebanon.

And what is in "The Calamities"??

In it is a dark, black history of this nation that so often sings the praises of its history. And what, pray, might the history of this nation be? And who, pray, might our forefathers have been!—

As for our history — as Rihani says — it is the history of a company of people who lived as slaves to tyrannical forefathers.

Our history is dark; it is a history of fanaticisms and of minorities. From the fanaticism of tribes to the fanaticism of families...

And minorities that have never been settled by any sensible settlement since the days of the Umayyads, but were now bait for the hunter among rulers, now a mount for the oppressor, now a sword in the hand of the conqueror, and now prey for the avengers.

As for our forefathers, they ate the whip and paid the tribute...

We come away with a single thought after reading this history, and that thought is this: that we, the grandchildren of those men, must write history a new and splendid page.