Iraq: A History

by John Robertson

In this insightful analysis, highly-respected expert John Robertson canvases the entirety of Iraq’s rich history, from the seminal advances of its Neolithic inhabitants to the aftermath of the American-led invasion and Iraq today. Grounded in extensive research, this balanced account of a country and its people explores the greatness and grandeur of Iraq’s achievements, the brutality and magnificence of its ancient empires, its contributions to the emergence of the world’s enduring monotheistic faiths, and the role the great Arab caliphs of Baghdad played in the medieval cultural flowering that contributed so much to the European Renaissance and the eventual rise of the West.

Fascinating and thought-provoking, Robertson’s work sheds light on a remarkable story of world history, one that has been too often overlooked. Wide-ranging and extensive in approach, it is sure to be greatly appreciated by historians, students and all those with an interest in this diverse and enigmatic country.

Genres: History, Middle East, Nonfiction, Medieval, Ancient History, Politics

336 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2012

About the author

John Robertson has been a Professor of ancient Near Eastern and modern Middle Eastern history at Central Michigan University since 1982. He was formally trained as an Assyriologist and Ancient Near East specialist [Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania], but since 1984, he has also been teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in Islamic and "modern" Middle Eastern history.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Iraq: A History by John Robertson is an interesting look at the history of the modern nation-state of Iraq, and the people that resided and conquered its geographic dimensions throughout history. The country of Iraq is a relatively modern phenomena, with the entire region, in antiquity (and into modern times) known as Mesopotamia. This region played the role both as the seat of empires such as the Sumerians, Assyrians and Babylonians, as well as regions of others, such as the Persian, Greek or Ottoman Empires. Baghdad, the capital city, was the centre of the Abbasid Caliphate, and home to some of humanities great scientific and cultural achievements. In recent times, Iraq has been a colony, exploited for its oil wealth. A Hashemite kingdom was set up under the tutelage of Great Britain. Imperial dominance was sidetracked by a period of Iraqi autonomy, which culminated in the rise of brutal dictator Saddam Hussein, and ended violently with a US invasion and the subsequent collapse of Iraqi society we are experiencing today, with fragmentations along religious and ethnic lines dividing the country as civil insurgency and war threatens to tear the country apart.

Robertson's account of Iraq is concise, and brief, somewhat to a fault. The vast amounts of history covered, as Iraq was one of the cradles of human civilization, is mind boggling, and each period of history could be given entire tomes of information. Even so, the brief accounts of Ottoman and Persian dominance (a couple of pages each) leaves a lot to be desired. That aside, Robertson's Iraq does a good job giving the highlights of Iraqi history, covering characters like Hammurabi, King Faisal and Saddam, to name just a couple. The religio-ethnic changes through Iraq's history is also fascinating, as we learn about the Mesopotamian pantheons that each city-state kept, to the birth and spread of Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Islam, with the very close similarities between these religions given in brief. The Islamic period obviously played a central role in modern Iraq's makeup, with the division of the religion between Sunni and Shia covered (and indeed many of the battles fought) within Iraq and the region as a whole. The migration of Arab tribesman from Arabia to Iraq is noted, and even speculated as starting before the rise of Islam itself. The growth and fall of great cities like Ur, Babylon and so on are fascinating as well. Iraq's history as the regions breadbasket and central trading route are covered, and so on.

Robertson has written a highly readable, if brief, account of Iraqi history, and has highlighted each of the major events and characters that has shaped the countries history since the beginning of human civilization. Although Iraq itself is a fairly new construct, the country has played a central role throughout human history, and especially as current events rage in the nation, it is important for Western readers to ground their knowledge of Iraq in historical realities, and not whimsical and naïve political notions. Iraq has always been a land of change. It has risen and fallen, and risen and fallen again and again. It is important for us to realize this significance and ensure that our knowledge of Iraq is not dogged in petty and trivial political rhetoric. Highly recommended, especially to Western readers.

[Eric James · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you thought the U.S. "messed up" in Iraq, first read the history of the past 4000 years of Iraq to realize how we messed up on an extraordinarily blissfully ignorant way. It seems human civilization will freely repeat the mistakes of the past, even when the facts and probable outcomes are fully known. It is very sad that Mesopotamia, the birthplace of civilization, has rarely seen peace.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this because I have a friend from Iraq and we often talk about the differences in our country. This book made me realize how little I know about Iraq. I recommend this for everyone.

[Sajith Kumar · Rating 3 out of 5]

The decade after the end of Cold War in 1990 was dominated by events unfolding in the oil rich Kuwait and Iraq region of the Middle East. Saddam Hussein, who was Iraq’s dictator-president invaded and annexed Kuwait. The rest of the world indignantly rose up in unity against Saddam and his forces were routed in a war that lasted only a few weeks. However, he clung on to power while being a thorn in the flesh of the US. Finally in 2003, America moved in decisively with concocted evidence of the presence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq. Saddam was dethroned quickly, but the effort to hoist a stable alternate administration on Iraq has still not borne fruit. The occupation forces were at the receiving end of deadly terrorist attacks that was staged as part of local resistance. In the end, most of the ordinary people lost sight of Iraq as the cradle of civilization itself, instead viewing it as a lawless country mired in sectarian clashes and religious bigotry. This book is an attempt to dress up Iraq as a major contributor to the development of Western Civilization. One must stop and show respect to the legacy of many an ancient civilization that flowered and later withered in the rolling landscape of Mesopotamia, by which name Iraq was known in the ancient world. John Robertson is Professor of Ancient and Middle Eastern Studies at Central Michigan University and his research interests centre on the social and economic history of the Middle East, with a particular focus on ancient Mesopotamian systems of social and economic organization.

A noteworthy fact of Iraq’s legacy is that it’s pioneering spirit and greatness lies only in the ancient past. The fertile floodplains of Tigris and Euphrates rivers attracted sedentary societies even from the dawn of history. The state’s name itself was derived from the Persian word ‘eragh’, meaning low land which characterizes the flood plain and marshes of the lower Tigris-Euphrates basin. Evolution of the first cities of the world came about in southern Iraq around 4000 BCE. For a time, people belonging to all four steps in the civilizational ladder – hunter-gatherers, farmers, pastoral nomads and city dwellers made Iraq their home. The country was ripe for the development of monarchy with its great agricultural and commercial potential, constrained by the lack or uneven distribution of resources like minerals, wood, and precipitation. Magnificent civilizations of the ancient era took root on Mesopotamian soil – The Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, and Chaldean are only a few among them. Even now, the Iraqi landscape is replete with thousands of tells (ruined mounds of ancient settlement). The artefacts lay buried undisturbed till 1840 when the English adventurer and diplomat Austen Henry Layard and French diplomat Paul-Emile Botta discovered the ancient cities of Calah and Nineveh. It is unfortunate that the local people didn’t take much interest in investigating the remains before the Europeans swooped down and took them overseas to private collections and museums in London and Paris. Robertson makes a guess that the local populace viewed the pre-Islamic past as the era of jahiliyya, or ignorance of the true religion of Islam, and therefore not worthy of a believer’s serious attention.

Iraq is considered the cradle of religions as well. Judaism assimilated many features and concepts of Babylonian religions when its adherents remained under the captivity of the Chaldean king Nebuchadnezzar. Garden of Eden was set somewhere in southern Mesopotamia, as ‘Edin’ was the Sumerian word for ‘grasslands’. The Jewish patriarch Abraham came from ‘Ur of the Chaldeans’. Noah and the Biblical flood story owe its origin to the character of Utnapishtim in the Sumerian epic ‘Gilgamesh’. Moral laws listed out in the Old Testament derive its source from the Code of Hammurabi. No wonder then that the New Testament is so contrasting in empathy and kindness from the Old! The author makes a neat comparison of the borrowings which can be extended to prophets and prophecy in general, concepts of heaven and hell, genres of psalms and lamentations, the Day of Atonement and rituals involving a scapegoat. Notions of one Supreme God, messiah, of spirituality and morally directed way of life, a code of behavior that entailed strict laws and framing unbelievers as presenting a threat of pollution came from Zoroastrianism of the Achaemenids who released the Jews from bondage in Babylon. Robertson makes a stinging analysis of Iraqi religious life in modern times. Islam is the dominant religion in Iraq since the seventh century CE, but the Sunni minority politically dominated the Shi’ite majority most of the time since then. They could forget the internal dissensions and fight as one unit in times of war, but sectarian strife is ever so rampant. Iraq once hosted the largest communities of Nestorian Christians and Jews in the Middle East. Ever since the foundation of Israel, Jews were being discriminated against and oppressed in the Arab world – a fate shared by Christians after Saddam’s downfall and American occupation in 2003. Obviously, religious tolerance is in short supply in the Middle East and Iraq is no exception.

The last glorious phase of Iraqi grandeur came about during the Abbasid caliphate after the arrival of Islam. Abu Jaffar ‘al Mansur’ founded the city of Baghdad in 762 CE. The city was the pride of its inhabitants, but the bitterest envy of their rivals. In the 1250 years after its establishment, Baghdad was conquered no fewer than fifteen times! The Abbasid era stands apart from typical Islamic empires. One gruesome event that readily comes to mind which differentiates it from peers is that of the destruction of the Library of Alexandria in 642 CE by the Muslim army of Amr bin al Aas by the order of Caliph Omar, the second in the series of four ‘rightly guided caliphs’. When confronted with the question of what to do with the books stored in the conquered library – the largest of its kind in the ancient world – al Aas was said to have remarked that ‘if those books are in agreement with the Koran, they are superfluous and we don’t need them. And if they are inconsistent with the Holy Writ, they are heretical’. This meant that in both instances, they were to be destroyed and his army duly burnt all the books along with its precious knowledge that spanned several millennia of human endeavour. But the Abbasid caliphs were entirely different. They collected manuscripts from all corners of the known world and had them translated into Arabic. The works of Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Ptolemy and of others dealing with mathematics, natural philosophy, science and medicine were thus preserved. However, books of historians like Herodotus and Thucydides or playwrights such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes were ignored on the basis that such information is ‘not useful’ for society. Europe owed its renaissance to the preserving work of the Abbasids. The Canon of Medicine of ibn Sina (Avicenna) and ibn Rushd’s (Averroes) commentaries on Aristotle was much popular in the intellectual circles of medieval Europe. The knowledge provided by these two helped European culture begin its slow turn to secular rationalism as the foundation of knowledge. Later rulers of the Abbasid lineage were mere puppets in the hands of local strongmen, but the charade of the supremacy of the caliph was played on till 1258 when the Mongol Hulegu Khan sacked Baghdad and extinguished the royal line. In order to honor a Mongol taboo not to spill royal blood on the floor, Caliph al Mustasim was wrapped in a carpet and kicked to death!

The book’s depiction of the modern era of Iraq is noted for the wealth of information on the happenings in the political front. With the discovery of abundant yet easily recoverable oil beneath its surface, Iraq turned out to be a battleground of imperial powers during the period between the two Great Wars. Eventually, US’ strategic interests shaped and reshaped the policies of the Middle Eastern states. Saddam Hussein is still the most widely known Iraqi in the world, but his reign offered nothing but unmitigated disaster to its people. Saddam’s war with Iran (1980-88) brought Iraq to the brink of catastrophe, while his foolishly adventurous occupation of Kuwait (1990) pushed it over the precipice. Mercilessly pounded by American jets and under the crippling economic sanctions, Iraq quickly degenerated into a third-world country. Saddam’s ouster in 2003 and American occupation has still not put the country back on rails on account of the devastating civil war between all three major factions – Sunni, Shi’ite and Kurd. Arab nationalism and a perceived Iraqi identity are still not strong enough to hold the country together and Robertson ends the book with the fervent hope that a solution may finally evolve in the near future.

The presentation of ideas in the book are quite matter of fact. No witty comments or asides to pull the reader close are seen and this very fact makes it a bit tiring. It is an excellent primer for Westerners to get familiar with the country ruined by decades of warfare and siege in the form of sanctions by Western powers. Robertson assigns the credit of inventing the place value notation of counting to Babylonians, whereas the consensus among scholars is that the honour should rightfully be given to India. The author makes a mollifying comment that it was adopted by Indians and spread from there (p.109). This is not a plausible argument and should be categorized as an inaccuracy. A few monochrome plates are attached with the main text, which don’t do justice to the primacy or majesty of the subjects they represent.

The book is highly recommended.

[Cameron McLachlan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually give this 3 1/2 stars. This is a synthetic history that details the political and intellectual achievements of the various Iraqi cultures from the invention of irrigation 5000 years ago to the rise of IS in 2014. On a positive note, Robertson is passionate about the contributions of the ancient and medieval Mesopotamian cultures to world history, as well as western civilization. While I was already familiar with Abbasid Baghdad's status as an intellectual powerhouse, I did learn more general knowledge about the Babylonian, Persian-Zoroastrian and sasanid/Parthian periods. I also am partial to this type of large scale or "macro" history as opposed to biographies so in that sense it was up my alley.

However, there are some reservations about "presentism" in the overall narrative. Specifically, Robertson has a habit of comparing events such as the Mongol sack of Baghdad to events in Saddam Hussein's era and the 2003 invasion. While Robertson likely intended these comparisons to illustrate continuous themes in Iraqi history to the reader, this comes off as clumsy and not too subtle. While my views on historical moral judgement are not extreme relativist, I also doubt the wisdom of historical comparison between such different historical periods without a much more developed explanation of the basis for similarities. That said, parts of this book were worthwhile; I would say that works such as the balkans by Misha Glenny were a more satisfactory example of large-scale history.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great introduction to the study of Iraq. For me, ancient history an acquired taste, and The History of Iraq was the first book that really piqued my interest in ancient history. The first half of the book goes back thousands of years, before modern Iraq, Baghdad, or the Middle East as we think of it today existed. The book is a bit lacking in depth, but it is still very interesting and worth reading. I didn't feel the need to skip a page (I'd miss something important), and
the movement is at breakneck pace. It's impossible to cover 5000 or so years of history in 350 pages without missing a whole lot of details, but this book does as good a job as any within the constraints. If you're unfamiliar with middle eastern studies, do a little research while reading. Use Google, Wikipedia, or whatever, but I'd say stick with this book. Give it a chance. I learned a lot from this book, though I'm definitely going to need dig deaper.

[sillypunk · Rating 4 out of 5]

First 2/3rds really interesting history and then 1/3 all the awful 20th century history.

[Kåre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Af vist nok ret tilfældige årsager har jeg på det seneste læst tre historiebøger om mellemøsten. To af dem har givet den helt store historiske tur tilbage til stenalderen og fremad By Steppe, Desert and Ocean og denne). Den sidste fokuserede på det ottomanske riges 1. verdenskrig. Alle tre har været lidt svære at komme igennem, fordi jeg egentligt ikke interesserer mig så meget for forhistorie eller for krig. Men alle tre er også blevet bedre og bedre desto længere jeg kom i dem.

Denne historie er vist et eksempel på moderne historie-skrivning. Fokus er på et geografisk område, men der tages afstikkere rundt til hele verden, når det er relevant. Det geografiske område er en nutidig stat, men et af fokuspunkterne igennem bogen er på de begivenheder, der gør, at området i nogle perioder er knyttet til nogle geografiske/politiske enheder for i andre perioder at være knyttet til andre. Med et sådant perspektiv bliver det vel næsten umuligt at fastholde et naivt nationalistisk blik, idet nationerne - eller det, der ligner nationer - i den grad kommer og går. Dette gælder måske i særlig grad for Irak.

Irak var sæde for de første civilisationer og de første imperiebyggere havde udgangspunkt i det nuværende Irak eller i dets omegn. Med islam blev Irak helt centralt, selvom det til stadighed indeholdte jødiske, kristne, kurdere og stammefolk. Med islams nedgang bliver Irak fanget i mellem vestlige og østlige emperier (mesopotamien/Det osmaniske rige mod vest og persien mod øst) og som følge deraf i høj grad en kampzone. Vesteuropæernes dominans medfører først, at Irak bliver en lydstat for England og dets sikring af Indien, og derefter til en nationalstat, skabt af England i 1921. England praktiserer - som andre før dem - del og hersk og indsætter en konge fra en etnisk mindretalsgruppe, således at kongen er helt afhængig af engelsk støtte for at kunne opretholde sin magt. Da USA overtager herredømmet, ændres dette ikke meget. Med USSRs tilsynekomst og de gamle kolonimagters svækkelse, får mellemøsten en vis mulighed for at spille de to magter ud mod hinanden. Men det lykkes sjældent godt, bl.a. fordi USA og andre kan spille de forskellige interne grupper i de forskellige mellemøstlige lande ud mod hinanden.


Olien gør først England rige, siden styrker oljen magthaverne i Irak. Billedet i oliestaterne er, at maghaverne køber en hær, som støtter dem, hvorfor behovet for legitimitet i befolkningen ikke er stort. Skat opkræves stort set ikke, for de har jo oljen. Uden skat er behovet for at leve op til skatteborgernes forventninger ikke stort.

Husseins historie passer lige ind i billedet. Han støtter sig til hæren, som underkuer befolkningen, men Husseins magt holdes i ave af udefra kommende kræfter. Da han vil bygge basen for atomkraft, bomber Israel simpelthen stedet. Derefter bliver landet angrebet af USA, fordi det angiveligt er blevet for militært stærkt.

Vinklen i bogen er vel altovervejende på henholdsvis etniske grupper, henholdsvis på magthaverne. disse to understøtter ofte hinanden, således at en magthaver kommer fra en etnisk gruppe, som dels støtter magthaveren, dels bliver støttet af magthaveren. En understrøm igennem hele bogen er vel små historier/sideblikke på de mennesker, der lever lokalt. Disse mennesker har ikke meget at skulle have sagt og bliver vel i det store hele blot udnyttet i de til enhver tid rådende magtspil. (Et enkelt sted kvajer forfatteren sig vist lidt, idet han der forsøger at give forklaringer af, hvorfor en lokal befolkning støtter en hersker. Dette opfatter jeg som lidt kvajet, idet logikken i hele bogen er, at lokale gør det, som herskere vil have dem til at gøre. Eller sagt anderledes, fokus i bogen ligger ikke på at forklare individuelt agency, men snarere på at forklare større forhold).

Jeg lægger mærke til, at dette områdes historie fra måske ca. 1. verdenskrig og frem i en forstand ligner Europæisk historie meget. Som Tony Judt gør pinligt klart, har etniske udrensninger været standard i Europa siden 2. verdenskrig. Som han malende skrev, medførte 1. verdenskrig, at man forsøgte at flytte grænserne, således at de enkelte lande blev etnisk homogene, hvorimod 2. verdenskrig medførte, at man flyttede befolkninger, så staterne blev homogenere. Det er så det samme billede, man ser i Irak og i mellemøsten. Eksempelvis har der op gennem historien levet mange jøder i Irak. Men fra 2. verdenskrigs afslutning bliver de tvunget ud af Irak, således at befolkningen bliver mere ensartet.

[Aled Owen-Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poor old Iraq has just been shafted by one empire after the next.
I found the more modern history the most interesting but that's not to say that I didn't enjoy the book as a whole.

[Chorvelynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this! I truly gained a newfound respect and gratitude for Mesopotamia and for history itself. In addition, a much more deeper understanding of colonialism and imperialism; and what those have done to the world I live in now. There's a lot in this book that can annoy, anger, and frustrate you but, that's history. Just take a second to reflect and realise that no one is excluded from history. WE are all a part of it and constantly in the process of writing it (and of rewriting it too, perhaps). At times, I find it difficult to respond meaningfully to history. Usually, I play with the idea that history can make our lives better or significantly different than it was before. But from what I learned from this book, it's not as easy and as romantic as that sounds. What 'is' better? And what is 'different' than before? Those decisions are so compounded and complex that not realising how connected each of our own decisions are to everybody else is positively frightening. It makes me overthink and overly-cautious; and what does that do? I can't keep thinking that 'the world' will despise me every time I don't use a glass for my water, when brushing my teeth. This is one way to look at it and I'm not saying it isn't effective. But I also want to think in a way that whenever I do something; or say something; or decide upon anything; it's not just me or for me. It's not just how I'll be affected by it, but how some of those effects, I won't even know about, like ever. An aftermath of one seemingly petty complaint or decision that I will never know anything about even in my own lifetime. It's both a haunting and invigorating thought. Or maybe it's just nothing at all. Who knows?

[Eleanor Horn · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0/5.0

Fast paced overview of Iraq's 5000 year human history which ties in relevant developments in the region and places Iraq's own history in the context of the "global story". The development of Sumerian culture and Mesopotamia was fascinating and it was humbling to see the intellectual achievements which were lost to the Western world for millennia. Bonus points for interesting etymology including the origins of "the writing's on the wall", "parting shot" and "assassin".

The middle section (c. 600CE and the birth of Islam to the post-war era of the 1940s and 50s) was quite dull. Mostly a repetitive list of names and dates. I wouldn't blame the author for this as this period seemed to be mostly invasions by one empire after another without Iraqi peoples being particularly involved.

I would have liked to see more social history, what it was like for ordinary people in the area rather than focusing on the big names, but this text provides a great springboard to dive into more detail for eras which interest. Next on the list, an equivalent overview for neighbouring Iran!

[aNorthernSoul Lightbown]

This is a book full of interesting curios and nuggets of information about the land that has a longer period of written history than any other place on the planet. This is perhaps what contributes to the tome's rather curious structure. Two thirds of the way through and we're barely approaching the last millenium. Recent decades, such as the British colonial period and Desert Storm, are covered in a few pages.

The first two thirds are fascinating, the final third rushed. I'd have been eager to have seen what a two-volume approach would have yielded.

As it is though, this is a fascinating insight into the cradle of civilsation, through the Assyrian and Babylonian empires to the glory age of Baghdad as the capital of the caliphate. Recommended for all of that, but I will also search for a more comprehensive history of the modern nation state of Iraq to augment the details covered to the end of this text.

[Matthew Griffiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a history book that covers the entire sweep of a countries history, this does a remarkably good job of giving a lot of detail in such a short space, starting from ancient times right the way through to the aftermath of the war in Iraq in the early 2000s. the author consistently points out how trends that have seemingly always been evident in Iraq have shaped that countries' history, whether you are looking at Assyrians, Mongols or Americans. For anyone looking to read a concise, well written and endlessly interesting account of a country that has had an outsized importance on world history this really isn't a bad place to start.

[Linus Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite liked this book. I liked his expansive look at the ancient peoples that inhabited the region now known as Iraq, and this book will be the jumping-off-point for a further deep dive into these peoples. He moves relatively quickly through the Ottoman period, which I was a little disappointed in--but there are books that focus on the ottoman empire and I will go to those. A fun read throughout about an interesting topic and place that will continue to be important throughout the 21st century.

[Els · Rating 4 out of 5]

Het kostte even tijd, niet zo geschikt in tijden van corona-gerelateerd verlies van concentratievermogen. De informatiedichtheid is nogal enorm. Best lastig om als je zoveel weet een compacte geschiedenis van eeuwen Midden Oosten/Irak te schrijven. Betekent ook dat de lezer onvermijdelijk een deel vergeet, maar dat is niet erg want juist omdat er zoveel is, blijft er ook nog heel veel hangen. De epiloog stopt in 2015, niet bepaald optimistisch, en terecht...

[Pei-jean Lu · Rating 5 out of 5]

The modern day upheavals of Iraq’s history often overshadows the fact that the country forms part of a region known to history as Mesopotamia and labelled as ‘The Cradle of Civilisation.’
Robertson delivers a book that is epic in its scope covering over 5000 years of history from its ancient beginnings to its struggles to emerge in a post war world.

[MpaulM · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got this book from the library to learn more about the neo-Babylonian empire. They chapter on religion looked good. However, the author jumps from the old Babylonian empire and goes right to the Persian, completely missing the Chaldeans.😕

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5-4 stars. A very well written and engaging history of Iraq. It covers a lot of ground and is therefore by necessity brief in many sections - considering it is not a long work - but is really good in providing a overview. Highly recommend.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for Westerners. Egypt, Greece, Rome, Jesus and Mohammed all make appearances here and it's important to see those intersections. Ironic that the West completely shattered one of its points of origin, but you'll also see the resiliency and former splendor of Iraq here.

[Jonathan · Rating 1 out of 5]

After reading this book, I am genuinely unsure if the author, John Robertson, could find Iraq on a map

[Liang Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good writing from prehistory days to present.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another example of British, American, etc colonialism coming into countries destabilising them. Then invading them to pretend to be the hero…

[Michael Kelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good, comprehensive history of Iraq.

[C. B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A useful but uninspiring overview, but then the book is really pitched at people who genuinely believe Iraq is and always was an inert "backwater". If Robertson opens a few eyes with this book, then he's done a wonderful job!

[Yasmin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this a slightly lower rating of stars merely because the first part of the book was information I hadn't already read about. No fault of the author as his main thrust is to reach audiences that would never have thought to read about Iraq before. From that perspective it's really very good. However, there is one real sticking point for me and that is to be found on page 118. I cannot for the life of me see why the goddess Inanna should be declared by another historian as a "cosmic cunt" nor can I see why this historian sees it appropriate to agree to such a description. There are descriptions in the English language to use in order to equate admiration and awe. I would like to have seen a little more detail on 19th and 20th centuries of Iraq, primarily when it was under colonial rule. As it was for the period starting at C.E. I had the impression of history rushed through. Although John Robertson does put succulently the cause and build ups and destructions of the first and second Gulf Wars; the first I and my family were in a small neighbouring country when the war raged. Overall a very well written book and one I would recommend despite the lower rating I ascribed.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robertson now belongs to my list of favorite non-fiction authors, including McCullough, Ackerman, and Ellis. This is fascinating, accessible, and extremely well-researched; the contributions of this ancient area to the modern world are innumerable, and Robertson does a great job of organizing culture, religion, language, etc.
4.5 stars because there is a typo on page 252.

[!Tæmbuŝu]

KOBOBOOKS

Reviewed by The Independent (6 Aug 2015)

[Cynthia]

The West's greed for oil and its meddling in the affairs of this ancient region have certainly helped create the mess we're in today. We are reaping the whirlwind.