Terry Anderson was the chief Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press, based in Beirut Lebanon, when he was kidnapped by the then unknown Islamic Jihad. Held for almost seven years in various apartments and basements throughout Lebanon, this book is his story of the ordeal. I don’t have a lot to say about the book or the writing. It’s hard to make 350 pages about sitting in a room very interesting. While the physical and mental strain had to be great, the chief break in the monotony of being a prisoner in squalor was the occasional rough moves to other locations. Beyond that Anderson tries to bring the reader through the mental states he traversed during his captivity. He largely succeeded for me, but that success brings with it it’s own brand of monotony.
Don’t read this expecting exciting tales of life as a prisoner of war such as might be found in King Rat, Hogan’s Heroes or perhaps even John McCain’s biography (which I haven’t read, so I don’t know). Occasionally the prisoners work out messages via sign language or tapping on walls, for instance. The chief result of their efforts was simply to have someone to talk to, and sometimes someone else with whom to argue. Small victories.
Something that came repeatedly to mind though is a comparison of Terry Anderson’s Christian faith with my own atheism/agnosticism. Shortly before being kidnapped, Anderson began returning to the Catholic church. Anderson writes that he turned to his faith over and over again to see him through the low spots. In fact though, he also writes many times (as does his wife) about how he felt unworthy to be a Christian and perhaps brought his trials on himself. In other words, while the connection he felt with god carried him in many spots, in many others the lack of connection and his faith brought him lower.
I don’t mean to ding someone for their faith. I have no desire to say that it’s wrong. His Christianity might on balance have been very positive during the experience. Only a person really inside his head could say for certain (and he does say that).
But it’s obvious to me that the faith has both advantages and disadvantages, bringing him up and driving him lower, depending on the period in his captivity. Christians who propose Christianity and god worship as a cure-all for times of stress (there are no atheists in foxholes!
) might do well to read how at times it wasn’t always such a positive experience. God doesn’t magically mentally carry many through tribulations.
Another thought that occurred to me as I read the book was a comparison to the prisoners the United States has held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. I’m betting they are kept in better conditions for the most part, not being in dark, filthy rooms for months on end. But some of the conditions haven’t been good. And some of them have been just as isolated as Terry Anderson was. And we’ve now kept some of them there for about seven years, the same amount of time Anderson was held. I don’t write this to say that we’re no better than Islamic Jihad even though I oppose keeping these alleged terrorists in captivity without trial.
Rather, the comparison sprang to mind simply because it’s hard to imagine the mental state of these men. For the most part, they can’t tell us. Some of them have been released, but none of them has written a book about the experience that has seen enough press to catch my notice. Those who have been released have been in the prison for less time and often in more communal situations than those the Bush administration has charged with war crimes. Those men were kept in secret prisons around the word for years perhaps, only seeing interrogators during that time and subjected to torture worse than Anderson received. Reading Anderson’s account was the first time I could even wrap my head around the mental state these men must be in. Not that I have it right. Just that I had no concept of being that isolated for that long. Perhaps now I have an inkling.
Title: Den of Lions: Memoirs of Seven Years
Author: Terry A. Anderson
Imprint / publisher: Crown / Random House
Format: Hardcover
Length: 349 p.
Publication date: 1993
ISBN-10: 0-517-59301-7
Subject: Anderson, Terry A., 1949 — Captivity, 1985-1991
Subject: Hostages — Lebanon — Biography
Subject: Hostages — United States — Biography
LC classification: DS87.2.A53A3
