“… this book has an unmistakable air of perceptive realism…[Polk] has also made use of a great deal of hitherto unused local documentary material, much of it of extreme difficulty…a piece of first-class original scholarship in a field where almost nothing has been done.”
— International Journal

“… hopefully will become a model for further studies of the Near East…[it exhibits] that intangible ‘feel' which alone makes meaningful history writing possible.”
— The Middle East Journal

“…ce livre [est] riche en faits et en idées, extrêmement intelligent qui décrit, ou Liban, ce ‘moment’ bref mais capital pour tout pays, le ‘moment’ où se fait la transition de l’époque médiévale à la vie moderne. Cette brusque mutation transporte l’histoire d’un plan à l’outre et ‘ouvre’ le Liban médiéval à la civilisation moderne.»
— Cahiers de l’Orient Contemporai