Walid Raad investigates how violence affects bodies, minds, art and tradition. This artist's book highlights two of his thoughtful and witty works. Here, as elsewhere, Raad departs from historical events linked to the protracted Lebanese wars of the past forty years to create somewhat absurd, outlandish but plausible documents. The first part concentrates on the local, regional and international political figures whose faces and names became fixtures in the Lebanese landscape; the second relies upon diaries that Raad's father kept during the wars.