Edgar O'Ballance is a military journalist and historian who has covered more than twenty wars and insurgencies and written more than fifty books or monographs on conflicts in the Middle East, North Africa, Central Europe, and Asia. His book is a chronological blow-by-blow account of the Lebanese War (1975–90), including a brief account of the events leading to the breakdown of April 1975 and the events immediately following the conclusion of the war in October 1990. Strangely, the title of the book describes the Lebanese War as having extended until 1992. There is no explanation for this odd dating, although it is clear that the author concluded his research in 1992; the book itself ends its chronological accounting in late 1991.