Beirut on the Bayou: Alfred Nicola, Louisiana, and the Making of Modern Lebanon

352 Pages·2016·63.82 MB·English

by  Raif Shwayri

Beirut on the Bayou

Beirut on the Bayou
Alfred Nicola, Louisiana, and
the Making of Modern Lebanon
RAIF SHWAYRI
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2015 Raif Shwayri
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shwayri, Raif
Beirut on the Bayou: Alfred Nicola, Louisiana, and the making of Modern Lebanon / Raif Shwayri
ISBN 978-1-4384-6095-6 (hardcover: alk paper)
ISBN 978-1-4384-6096-3 (ebook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015944372
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Nadim Habib Shwayri
What’s past is prologue . . .
—Shakespeare
Contents
List of Maps xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction xvii
Part I
Alfred remembers
1 Fares Bozeid Moujaes: At the time of the emara 3
Of silk and stone 5
Palace builders 11
From Beiteddine to Hadath 19
2 Habib Fares Shwayri: At the time of the caimaqamat 25
Rebirth of Beirut 28
Toward civil war 32
The failure of the caimaqamat system 38
1860, the year of transformations 45
3 Nicolas Habib Shwayri: At the time of the mutasarifiya 55
The Organic Statutes 58
The Administrative Council: Prefiguration of the House of
Representatives 61
To finish with Youssef bey Karam 64
A bustling but constrained economy 65
The new imperialisms 75
vii
Part II
Alfred in Louisiana
4 From Lebanon to Louisiana 81
Ellis Island 81
A forerunner Moujaes: Ann Murray 85
South to New Orleans 89
5 A peddler on foot 95
On the bayou 95
“Up the bayou, down the bayou, across the bayou” 100
A people of extremes 103
“Sweet Papa” 107
6 A shotgun house, a wagon, and a horse called Mac 113
Lockport 113
On war and peace 116
A peddler by wagon 120
“I lift my lamp beside the golden door” 123
Part III
Alfred’s legacy
7 Returning to a country in total upheaval 131
In his absence: The dismemberment of an empire 131
Alfred in Hadath: From mandate to independence 140
8 On true resilience 161
Nadim Shwayri 161
Lily 176
Shwayr, in a child’s memory 181
A cry in the wilderness 186
9 A singular message in the face of continuing adversity 217
The peace of circumstance: And the failed state 217
The message of Al-Kafaàt 228
viii • Contents
Appendices
1 Mount Lebanon in history 235
2 The origins of the Moujaes family: A history 245
Bibliography 257
Index 265
Plates follow pages 78 and 232
Contents • ix