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Land Between the Rivers: A 5,000-Year History of Iraq
The epic, five millennia history of the region between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that was the birthplace of civilization and remains today the essential crossroads between East and West
At the start of the fourth millennium BC, at the edge of historical time, civilization first arrived with the advent of cities and the invention of writing that began to replace legend with history. This occurred on the floodplains of southern Iraq where the great rivers Tigris and Euphrates meet the Persian Gulf. By 3000 BC, a city called Uruk (from which “Iraq” is derived) had 80,000 residents. Indeed, as Bartle Bull reveals in his magisterial history, “if one divides the 5,000 years of human civilization into ten periods of five centuries each, during the first nine of these the world’s leading city was in one of the three regions of current day Iraq”—or to use its Greek name, Mesopotamia.
Inspired by extensive reporting from the region to spend a decade delving deep into its history, Bull chronicles the story of Iraq from the exploits of Gilgamesh (almost certainly an historical figure) to the fall of the Iraqi monarchy in 1958 that ushered in its familiar modern era. The land between the rivers has been the melting pot and battleground of countless outsiders, from the Akkadians of Hammurabi and the Greeks of Alexander to the Ottomans of Suleiman the Magnificent. Here, by the waters of Babylon, Judaism was born and the Sunni-Shia schism took its bloody shape.
Central themes play out over the humanity’s need for freedom versus the co-eternal urge of tyranny; the ever-present conflict and cross-fertilization of East and West with Iraq so often the hinge. We tend to view today’s tensions in the Middle East through the prism of the last hundred years since the Treaty of Versailles imposed a controversial realignment of its borders. Bartle Bull’s remarkable, sweeping achievement reminds us that the region defined by the land between the rivers has for five millennia played a uniquely central role on the global stage.
At the start of the fourth millennium BC, at the edge of historical time, civilization first arrived with the advent of cities and the invention of writing that began to replace legend with history. This occurred on the floodplains of southern Iraq where the great rivers Tigris and Euphrates meet the Persian Gulf. By 3000 BC, a city called Uruk (from which “Iraq” is derived) had 80,000 residents. Indeed, as Bartle Bull reveals in his magisterial history, “if one divides the 5,000 years of human civilization into ten periods of five centuries each, during the first nine of these the world’s leading city was in one of the three regions of current day Iraq”—or to use its Greek name, Mesopotamia.
Inspired by extensive reporting from the region to spend a decade delving deep into its history, Bull chronicles the story of Iraq from the exploits of Gilgamesh (almost certainly an historical figure) to the fall of the Iraqi monarchy in 1958 that ushered in its familiar modern era. The land between the rivers has been the melting pot and battleground of countless outsiders, from the Akkadians of Hammurabi and the Greeks of Alexander to the Ottomans of Suleiman the Magnificent. Here, by the waters of Babylon, Judaism was born and the Sunni-Shia schism took its bloody shape.
Central themes play out over the humanity’s need for freedom versus the co-eternal urge of tyranny; the ever-present conflict and cross-fertilization of East and West with Iraq so often the hinge. We tend to view today’s tensions in the Middle East through the prism of the last hundred years since the Treaty of Versailles imposed a controversial realignment of its borders. Bartle Bull’s remarkable, sweeping achievement reminds us that the region defined by the land between the rivers has for five millennia played a uniquely central role on the global stage.
576 pages, Hardcover
First published August 22, 2024
About the author
Bartle Bull
20 books41 followersBartle Bull was born in London and educated at Harvard and at Magdalen College, Oxford. A student of the China coast since he first worked in Hong Kong over thirty years ago, he is a member of the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorers Club. He is the author of Safari: A chronicle of Adventure and the novels The White Rhino Hotel, A Cafe on the Nile, and The Devil's Oasis.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
Did Not Finish
March 20, 2024Received via NetGalley.
This isn't a book for me.
Who this book IS for: the person with an interest in history who doesn't have much specific knowledge about the history of Mesopotamia/Iraq, and is after a broad-sweep understanding of that area and how its history has had an effect on its neighbours. You're not too worried about historiography and questioning sources at this time, you just want to know the main players and events and issues. If that's you, this is likely to be a very good book for you! I'm glad it exists.
That's not me, though. I already have a broad-sweep understanding of the area. I'm also impatient these days with writers who seem to take ancient sources largely at their word, with only the occasional "here's how these two differ." My other main issue is that this is basically a Great Man history. I understand that the sources for the time do often concentrate on the dudes, and that skipping from Cyrus to Alexander is the straightforward/easy/exciting option. But for me, this is also the boring option, when it's not made more complex by questioning or further exploring the issues.
So: I read 1/4 of the book before deciding I wouldn't continue. Overall, it's well written and accessible; the author is a journalist, rather than an academic historian, and he reflects on his personal experiences in reporting from Iraq, which generally adds to the accessibility. Whether this book works for you will depend on what sort of history you're looking for.
This isn't a book for me.
Who this book IS for: the person with an interest in history who doesn't have much specific knowledge about the history of Mesopotamia/Iraq, and is after a broad-sweep understanding of that area and how its history has had an effect on its neighbours. You're not too worried about historiography and questioning sources at this time, you just want to know the main players and events and issues. If that's you, this is likely to be a very good book for you! I'm glad it exists.
That's not me, though. I already have a broad-sweep understanding of the area. I'm also impatient these days with writers who seem to take ancient sources largely at their word, with only the occasional "here's how these two differ." My other main issue is that this is basically a Great Man history. I understand that the sources for the time do often concentrate on the dudes, and that skipping from Cyrus to Alexander is the straightforward/easy/exciting option. But for me, this is also the boring option, when it's not made more complex by questioning or further exploring the issues.
So: I read 1/4 of the book before deciding I wouldn't continue. Overall, it's well written and accessible; the author is a journalist, rather than an academic historian, and he reflects on his personal experiences in reporting from Iraq, which generally adds to the accessibility. Whether this book works for you will depend on what sort of history you're looking for.
November 20, 2024
Beware of this sweeping history of Mesopotamia, even though it covers a great deal and reads well (the ridiculous epilogue in which the the author shamelessly tries to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq in a twisted manner notwithstanding), in addition to such obviously debunked neo-con talking points it is also tainted with typical orientalist hubris and colonial mindset.
One is best served to read the likes of The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan or How the World Made the West by Josephine Quinn for expansive but informed world history (including history of this land). For commentary on different ideologies and background of peoples one may refer to the works of Reza Aslan or Karen Armstrong or even Tim Mackintosh-Smith.
Only read Land between the rivers if you’re already well versed with the subject material and can tune out and compensate for author’s biases and prejudices. If you’re new to ancient or more recent history of this area, stay away from this book and look elsewhere including the few suggestions above.
Note to author: The purpose of studying history among other things is an attempt to understand and make sense of the present. Projecting one’s partiality into the past and seeing it through biased lens of current prejudices defeats the whole purpose.
One is best served to read the likes of The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan or How the World Made the West by Josephine Quinn for expansive but informed world history (including history of this land). For commentary on different ideologies and background of peoples one may refer to the works of Reza Aslan or Karen Armstrong or even Tim Mackintosh-Smith.
Only read Land between the rivers if you’re already well versed with the subject material and can tune out and compensate for author’s biases and prejudices. If you’re new to ancient or more recent history of this area, stay away from this book and look elsewhere including the few suggestions above.
Note to author: The purpose of studying history among other things is an attempt to understand and make sense of the present. Projecting one’s partiality into the past and seeing it through biased lens of current prejudices defeats the whole purpose.
July 23, 2025
“There he lived by his pen, attracting the attention of Ma’mun, and writing hundreds of works. [al]-Jahiz died at 93 crushed by an avalanche of books in his library at home in Basra. He was the greatest of Arabic prose writers.” -Bartle Bull, Land Between the Rivers: a 5000-Year History of Iraq
Al-Jahiz is one of history’s greatest polymaths with works in literature, theology, and zoology just to name a few. Unfortunately for Jahiz, I found his death too interesting to leave out and his short biography is a perfect summary of this book. Jahiz, and the other Arabian scholars of his era, were the key players for the Arabian world’s excellence in science and innovation in the medieval world and yet Jahiz gets a few pages in one of the smaller chapters of this book.
Land Between the Rivers is an interesting book but I think it bites off too much. 5000 years is covered in less than 600 pages, starting from the first city of Uruk and its fall with the rise of Babylon to the eventual demise of Saddam Hussein in America’s invasion of Iraq in the 21st century.
Some sections I found interesting and useful such as the archaeology of Nineveh by British archaeologists but these were more like introductions to key moments in this region’s history and I desired more in-depth exploration of the events. So if you’re looking for something that skims the surface of the history of this country then this book might be of interest to you, but you might find yourself desiring more information on the events and people than what this book has to offer.
Al-Jahiz is one of history’s greatest polymaths with works in literature, theology, and zoology just to name a few. Unfortunately for Jahiz, I found his death too interesting to leave out and his short biography is a perfect summary of this book. Jahiz, and the other Arabian scholars of his era, were the key players for the Arabian world’s excellence in science and innovation in the medieval world and yet Jahiz gets a few pages in one of the smaller chapters of this book.
Land Between the Rivers is an interesting book but I think it bites off too much. 5000 years is covered in less than 600 pages, starting from the first city of Uruk and its fall with the rise of Babylon to the eventual demise of Saddam Hussein in America’s invasion of Iraq in the 21st century.
Some sections I found interesting and useful such as the archaeology of Nineveh by British archaeologists but these were more like introductions to key moments in this region’s history and I desired more in-depth exploration of the events. So if you’re looking for something that skims the surface of the history of this country then this book might be of interest to you, but you might find yourself desiring more information on the events and people than what this book has to offer.
June 1, 2024
It's hard to decide what to say about this book. One word I would use to describe it is 'baggy' - I am very familiar with the desire to find a way to include EVERYTHING YOU KNOW whether it's necessary or not! but there were times when I wasn't sure I really needed as much of the exhaustive history of Islam as Bull provides, for example - there are whole books about this, and some are actually written by Muslims as opposed to the many early 20th century British authors who seem to have been a main source of information. I particularly noted one comment as typical of the omniscient tone the author assumes throughout the book no matter what epoch or subject he is addressing: "The heterodoxy and humanness of the Greek pantheon reflected the independence of mind at the heart of the classical outlook." Really? How do we know this? It's rather a sweeping statement, and this book isn't really about classical Greece anyway although classical Greece impinged on the part of the world where the nation of Iraq was created. Here's another one: "Blood-and-soil nationalism was an entirely new notion. No one had ever been a 'Turk' or an 'Arab' before, just as in Europe until recently nobody had ever been an 'Italian' or a 'German.'" In the second sentence, he carefully chooses his examples to be true (Italy and Germany had been forged into nations from little warring principalities), but that does not make the first sentence true; ask Shakespeare's Henry V or John of Gaunt about nationalism, just as one example. Things like this kept me feeling wary about what else might be going on here that would be similar, but that I didn't have the background to notice.
There is a lot of interesting material in what might properly be called these "episodes in the history of the area from Turkey to Iran." The actual focus on what was going on in Mesopotamia was more or less maintained from section to section, frequently less - I can understand why, as there was always some external force sweeping across the area and attempting to own it, but at times it was easy to lose sight of Mesopotamia itself as we spoke in detail of what was going on in Alexander's Macedonia, or in Mecca and Medina, or Constantinople.
Bull believes that the nation of Iraq as created by the European powers in the early 20th century had a previously existing identity, with only minor squabbles about specific borders, and thus he refers to it as Iraq throughout the book. I have not read deeply in this area but I know this is debatable. And he does seem to feel that the Shia/followers of Ali and the imams were always marginalized and suppressed by the Sunni Arabs throughout the region. He makes the interesting assertion that the Judaean population who were taken in captivity to Babylon formulated a religious outlook and body of scripture there, and returned to Palestine as a new phenomenon called Jews; again I do not have the background to have an opinion about this. And the idea that the Persian emperor Cyrus was essentially a liberal humanist was also new to me...
The context he places around the defeat of Rommel in north Africa in World War II, and Hitler's choice to invade Russia, was striking. If Hitler had invaded the Levant, which was poorly defended, and moved east to take ownership of Syria and Iraq, he might well have become undisputed master of Eurasia because he would have had control of all the oil in the region and kept it from the allies. As it was, he continued, energy-poor, north and east, and failed there.
The narrative of the three Hashemite kings placed upon the throne of the newly created Iraq, and their eventual destruction at the hands of the Baath party, was a sad story of people mostly trying to do their best with the nation they were handed. (Editing needs to clean up the two different birth years given, a few pages apart, for Faisal I.) Thankfully Bull places the 21st century invasion of Iraq by the US led forces in an epilogue. He seems to feel that the invasion was justified, although he does not touch at all upon the aftermath and how it might have been better handled if people understood the history he'd spent 500 pages telling us. His final summation makes a handful of important points concisely: "The nostalgic Sunni revivalism of Al Qaeda, the modern secular national socialism of the Baath: these two outlooks were fundamental enemies. Shia Iran was an even bigger foe for each. And then there were the foreigners from the world to the west. There was nothing new about any of it."
In sum, a flawed book with a lot of important information as well as the occasional assertion that made me go ???? Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read an advance proof of this book.
There is a lot of interesting material in what might properly be called these "episodes in the history of the area from Turkey to Iran." The actual focus on what was going on in Mesopotamia was more or less maintained from section to section, frequently less - I can understand why, as there was always some external force sweeping across the area and attempting to own it, but at times it was easy to lose sight of Mesopotamia itself as we spoke in detail of what was going on in Alexander's Macedonia, or in Mecca and Medina, or Constantinople.
Bull believes that the nation of Iraq as created by the European powers in the early 20th century had a previously existing identity, with only minor squabbles about specific borders, and thus he refers to it as Iraq throughout the book. I have not read deeply in this area but I know this is debatable. And he does seem to feel that the Shia/followers of Ali and the imams were always marginalized and suppressed by the Sunni Arabs throughout the region. He makes the interesting assertion that the Judaean population who were taken in captivity to Babylon formulated a religious outlook and body of scripture there, and returned to Palestine as a new phenomenon called Jews; again I do not have the background to have an opinion about this. And the idea that the Persian emperor Cyrus was essentially a liberal humanist was also new to me...
The context he places around the defeat of Rommel in north Africa in World War II, and Hitler's choice to invade Russia, was striking. If Hitler had invaded the Levant, which was poorly defended, and moved east to take ownership of Syria and Iraq, he might well have become undisputed master of Eurasia because he would have had control of all the oil in the region and kept it from the allies. As it was, he continued, energy-poor, north and east, and failed there.
The narrative of the three Hashemite kings placed upon the throne of the newly created Iraq, and their eventual destruction at the hands of the Baath party, was a sad story of people mostly trying to do their best with the nation they were handed. (Editing needs to clean up the two different birth years given, a few pages apart, for Faisal I.) Thankfully Bull places the 21st century invasion of Iraq by the US led forces in an epilogue. He seems to feel that the invasion was justified, although he does not touch at all upon the aftermath and how it might have been better handled if people understood the history he'd spent 500 pages telling us. His final summation makes a handful of important points concisely: "The nostalgic Sunni revivalism of Al Qaeda, the modern secular national socialism of the Baath: these two outlooks were fundamental enemies. Shia Iran was an even bigger foe for each. And then there were the foreigners from the world to the west. There was nothing new about any of it."
In sum, a flawed book with a lot of important information as well as the occasional assertion that made me go ???? Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read an advance proof of this book.
2024
October 6, 2025Non-fiction November TBR
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Atlantic Monthly Press
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Atlantic Monthly Press
February 2, 2025
I am not a historian, which means I can review this book from an average reader's POV only.
It took me a good few months to read this, not because it's boring (it is NOT), but because I kept googling lots of information.
If you have little to no knowledge of this region's history then this book is perfect for you. It's like a speedy history lesson. The author doesn`t explore matters too deeply to spare you from overwhelming confusion, he rather touches the surface to make you aware of some important historical events. After all, covering 5 thousand years on 500 pages is quite a challenge.
The author has definitely inspired me to look for more detailed books about this fascinating, yet scary region.
It took me a good few months to read this, not because it's boring (it is NOT), but because I kept googling lots of information.
If you have little to no knowledge of this region's history then this book is perfect for you. It's like a speedy history lesson. The author doesn`t explore matters too deeply to spare you from overwhelming confusion, he rather touches the surface to make you aware of some important historical events. After all, covering 5 thousand years on 500 pages is quite a challenge.
The author has definitely inspired me to look for more detailed books about this fascinating, yet scary region.
February 14, 2026
What an incredible challenge to pack this history into one tome.
If you want to understand your own world, read this. Think western civilization created colonialism? Think your religion emanated from on high? Wonder why there will never be peace in that part of the world and how that affects the west?
It's dense but the author effectively calls back and ties in critical inflection points that drive through the historical narrative.
The last line says it all "There was nothing new about any of it"
If you want to understand your own world, read this. Think western civilization created colonialism? Think your religion emanated from on high? Wonder why there will never be peace in that part of the world and how that affects the west?
It's dense but the author effectively calls back and ties in critical inflection points that drive through the historical narrative.
The last line says it all "There was nothing new about any of it"
March 21, 2025
I learnt a lot from this book but, after a promising start, the lack of any social history turned large parts of the narrative into a bewildering list of rulers, battles, religious groups and ever changing borders.
I liked the initial setting of the story in the land between the rivers and the expansion out into the surrounding regions. I did find the blurring of the lines between factually grounded history and supposition based on biblical stories a little off-putting. I kept having to dig out other books to check facts, which isn't what I expected from a history book, but it was good storytelling.
As the narrative moved into the long and complex history of Islam, I became increasingly frustrated by the lack of any social context to the broader events. Why did one prophet attract such a following? What was the social context that allowed this religion to flourish? There was nothing about the everyday lives of people or what drove their actions. Instead, it was all about the life of the Prophet and his descendents, the battles they fought, and the constant moving of the centres of power. This was interesting, but I got no real sense of place or focus on the area that became Iraq.
And so it continued. After hundreds of pages and masses of information, I still knew nothing about anyone outside the ruling classes, and women barely got mentioned at all, unless they lived in a harem or married someone important. There were barely any descriptions of the cities, the architecture, the food or the culture, and nothing about the lifestyles outside of the ruling classes. There is, however, a whole chapter on the British explorer and diplomat, Austen Henry Layard, detailing his entire life and not just his excavations of Nimrod. The discovery of those ancient wonders was fascinating, but the author seems far more interested in Layard than the discoveries he made, which was odd in a book about Iraq.
The final chapters were more interesting, as the narrative took the story through the end of Ottoman rule and the impact of the World Wars on the politics and the borders. So many of today's horrific problems stem from this period, but the author clearly shows how they date much further back to the age-old conflicts of a region forever squeezed between east and west.
I liked the initial setting of the story in the land between the rivers and the expansion out into the surrounding regions. I did find the blurring of the lines between factually grounded history and supposition based on biblical stories a little off-putting. I kept having to dig out other books to check facts, which isn't what I expected from a history book, but it was good storytelling.
As the narrative moved into the long and complex history of Islam, I became increasingly frustrated by the lack of any social context to the broader events. Why did one prophet attract such a following? What was the social context that allowed this religion to flourish? There was nothing about the everyday lives of people or what drove their actions. Instead, it was all about the life of the Prophet and his descendents, the battles they fought, and the constant moving of the centres of power. This was interesting, but I got no real sense of place or focus on the area that became Iraq.
And so it continued. After hundreds of pages and masses of information, I still knew nothing about anyone outside the ruling classes, and women barely got mentioned at all, unless they lived in a harem or married someone important. There were barely any descriptions of the cities, the architecture, the food or the culture, and nothing about the lifestyles outside of the ruling classes. There is, however, a whole chapter on the British explorer and diplomat, Austen Henry Layard, detailing his entire life and not just his excavations of Nimrod. The discovery of those ancient wonders was fascinating, but the author seems far more interested in Layard than the discoveries he made, which was odd in a book about Iraq.
The final chapters were more interesting, as the narrative took the story through the end of Ottoman rule and the impact of the World Wars on the politics and the borders. So many of today's horrific problems stem from this period, but the author clearly shows how they date much further back to the age-old conflicts of a region forever squeezed between east and west.
March 16, 2024
(Note: I received an advanced reader copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley)
Bartle Bull has expertly taken several thousand years of history and has contained it within a remarkably accessible narrative. Not once did I feel overwhelmed or tired, as has been the case with other historical reads - all the while I was deeply immersed and happily absorbing all that he had to share on a region that has been so central to humanity in a sweeping myriad of ways since the dawn of civilization.
Bartle Bull has expertly taken several thousand years of history and has contained it within a remarkably accessible narrative. Not once did I feel overwhelmed or tired, as has been the case with other historical reads - all the while I was deeply immersed and happily absorbing all that he had to share on a region that has been so central to humanity in a sweeping myriad of ways since the dawn of civilization.
July 21, 2025
I grabbed this book off the library shelf almost on a whim. As soon as it starts getting dull, I told myself, I’ll quit reading and return it. I read every page.
Tackling 5,000 years of history in a cohesive narrative is a tough task that the author accomplishes with aplomb.
In 482 pages, the reader gets a selection of pivotal people in pivotal moments, from Gilgamesh to Alexander to Mohammed to Sadaam Hussein.
The book also covers religious developments. The story of Islam and its various competing factions and worldviews — not just Sunni/Shia — and how they came to be be gave me a much better understanding of the religion and the religious politics of the Middle East than I’d had before.
It’s a great overview. I highly recommend.
Tackling 5,000 years of history in a cohesive narrative is a tough task that the author accomplishes with aplomb.
In 482 pages, the reader gets a selection of pivotal people in pivotal moments, from Gilgamesh to Alexander to Mohammed to Sadaam Hussein.
The book also covers religious developments. The story of Islam and its various competing factions and worldviews — not just Sunni/Shia — and how they came to be be gave me a much better understanding of the religion and the religious politics of the Middle East than I’d had before.
It’s a great overview. I highly recommend.
dnf-bleh
September 29, 2025At the risk of sounding dismissive, this book is very much written by a white man for a white audience with the aim of reinforcing white assumptions. At first, I thought the author was just taking a critical stance on religion in keeping with journalistic fashion, but the bias became obvious as soon as white explorers entered history. No thank you.
October 20, 2024
Who knew journalistic integrity was such a low bar compared to historical rigour. Really good storytelling, though. Vivid, emotional, entertaining etc. but I can’t forgive the lack of rigour and overconfidence in interpreting random sources
August 22, 2025
This sweeping overview of the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers is nothing if not ambitious. Beginning with a time so ancient that the legendary Gilgamesh is treated as a historical figure, the book gallops through millennia of history, leaving no stone unturned—or at least, no major historical event unmentioned. The journey barrels forward with a journalist's sense of urgency, speeding past Sumerians, Cyrus the Great, and Alexander before drawing to a close with the 1958 Revolution and a brief epilogue that hurries us all the way up to George Bush’s “Mission Accomplished.” It’s a book for those who want to see all the sights from a moving car without having to get out and actually walk around.
Of course, the author is a journalist, and his professional background is, shall we say, evident. This is not a book for those who are a stickler for things like sourcing, historiography, or a nuanced engagement with alternate theories. The narrative tends to stick to the well-trodden path of "Great Man history," assuming an omniscient tone and taking ancient sources largely at their word, which is, of course, the most straightforward and least complicated way to write history. He also makes the choice to be inoffensive when discussing the early Muslim era, a move that is much better for his personal safety if he is reporting from that area than it is for the reader's historical enlightenment.
The book's scope, while impressive in its breadth, can also feel a bit "baggy," as if the author was determined to include every last bit of information he ever learned. At times, the focus on Mesopotamia itself seems to get lost in the whirlwind of external forces, such as the exhaustive history of Islam or the rather detailed biography of a British explorer who was apparently more interesting to the author than the very discoveries he made. The lack of social history is particularly striking; if you were hoping to learn anything about the lives of ordinary people, women, or what anyone ate, you're out of luck. The narrative focuses squarely on the rulers, the battles, the shifting borders, and the other usual suspects of high-level historical analysis.
In the end, whether this book is a triumph or a tedious list of names and dates depends entirely on what you’re looking for. If you’re a serious historian, someone who likes to question sources and dive into the messy details of social context, you should probably pass this by. However, if you're a curious individual with little prior knowledge and a healthy impatience for academic debate, this might be a very good starting point. It’s an accessible, well-written introduction to a complex region, as long as you’re willing to take a lot of what it says at face value without having to think for yourself.
Of course, the author is a journalist, and his professional background is, shall we say, evident. This is not a book for those who are a stickler for things like sourcing, historiography, or a nuanced engagement with alternate theories. The narrative tends to stick to the well-trodden path of "Great Man history," assuming an omniscient tone and taking ancient sources largely at their word, which is, of course, the most straightforward and least complicated way to write history. He also makes the choice to be inoffensive when discussing the early Muslim era, a move that is much better for his personal safety if he is reporting from that area than it is for the reader's historical enlightenment.
The book's scope, while impressive in its breadth, can also feel a bit "baggy," as if the author was determined to include every last bit of information he ever learned. At times, the focus on Mesopotamia itself seems to get lost in the whirlwind of external forces, such as the exhaustive history of Islam or the rather detailed biography of a British explorer who was apparently more interesting to the author than the very discoveries he made. The lack of social history is particularly striking; if you were hoping to learn anything about the lives of ordinary people, women, or what anyone ate, you're out of luck. The narrative focuses squarely on the rulers, the battles, the shifting borders, and the other usual suspects of high-level historical analysis.
In the end, whether this book is a triumph or a tedious list of names and dates depends entirely on what you’re looking for. If you’re a serious historian, someone who likes to question sources and dive into the messy details of social context, you should probably pass this by. However, if you're a curious individual with little prior knowledge and a healthy impatience for academic debate, this might be a very good starting point. It’s an accessible, well-written introduction to a complex region, as long as you’re willing to take a lot of what it says at face value without having to think for yourself.
July 8, 2025
Takes sources at face value, but great breadth of info. Overall interesting.
March 31, 2026
I’ve noticed that the first half of most books are better than the latter half and this one is no exception. I suppose writers tire as they extend into their work or, in some cases, they seem to just try to stretch material too far.
This is a great account of ancient history but the work deteriorates in the 19th century. However, this account of ancient history is excellent for grounding one geographically in relation to Biblical stories.
I find that when reading history, two things are of great benefit: (1) illustrations, particularly maps and (2) a timeline. This author includes much of the former but neglects the latter, so I produced the timeline below from the book. Please note that in many cases the dates are approximate and the events are mostly particular to the history of Iraq, as set forth in the book. I hope you find it beneficial.
3000 BC - Sumerian and Akkadian civilizations. Uruk near mouth of the Euphrates earliest writing
2900 BC - Gilgamesh in Sumer’s early dynastic period
2000 BC - end of Sumerian civilization
2334 BC - Sargon of Akkad conquers, ending Sumer
2193 BC - Akkadian Empire founded by Sargon collapses
2004 BC - Elamite army sacks Ur
1850 BC - Abraham, the man from Ur, sets off over the horizon as the people of Babel are scattered
1700 BC - Atrahasis, a Babylonian epic, tells story of Utnapishtim, a Noah figure
1700 BC - Emergence of Rig Veda, Key text of Hinduism
1792 BC - King Hammurabi in Babylon
1500 BC - Phoenicians of Syrian coast develop first alphabet.
950 BC - First five books of the Old Testament (Pentateuch or Torah) written
700 BC - Epic of Gilgamesh at Nineveh
722 BC - Assyrian empire expatriates Jews to Mesopotamia
657 BC - Greek city Byzantium founded on European side of the Bosphorus
637 BC - Muslim conquest
600 BC - Jewish exiles in Babylon are influenced by ancient Zoroastrianism
600 BC - Birth of the Persian Cyrus the Great, founder of Achaemenid Empire
612 BC - Fall of Assyrian Empire - last Assyrian king in Nineveh - destruction of Nineveh
605 BC - Nebuchadnezzar begins brining Israelites to Babylon
586 BC - Destruction of Jerusalem by Babylonians
562 BC - Death of Nebuchadnezzar
546 BC - Death of Zarathushtra
539 BC - Persian king Cyrus conquers Iraq & Babylon
530 BC - Cyrus sends Hebrews back to Jerusalem
522 BC - Darius becomes king of Achaemenid empire
427 BC - Birth of Xenophon, Athenian writer of Cyropaedia and Anabasis
486 BC - Xerxes ascends throne upon death of Darius
480 BC - Xerxes’s army crosses into Europe over the Hellespont (Dardanelles Strait)
384 BC - Aristotle born in Macedonia
347 BC - Death of Plato
343 BC - Aristotle tutors Alexander the Great in Macedon
336 BC - Philip of Macedon murdered
334 BC - Alexander the Great crosses the Hellespont
333 BC - Alexander the Great resolves the Gordian Knot by slicing through it
331 BC - Alexander the Great takes Babylon, founds city of Alexandria in Egypt
330 BC - Cyrus’s last successor murdered after losses to Alexander the Great
323 BC - Death of Alexander the Great at Babylon
312 BC - Alexander’s officer, Seleucus, seizes Babylon & eventually much of empire
305 BC - Seleucus founds city, Seleucus, where Tigris & Euphrates come closest
295 BC - Euclid develops geometry
274 BC - War between Seleucus’s heirs and the Ptolemies of Egypt begins
240 BC - Antioch (now Antakya in Turkey) becomes capitol of shrinking Seleucids
212 BC - Archimedes develops physics
129 BC - Seleucid period ends, new invaders, the Parthians (Scythians)
63 BC - last of the Seleucid kings dies
44 BC - murder of Julius Caesar
41 BC - Antony encounters Cleopatra
31 BC - Cleopatra (last of the Ptolemy’s) & Antony defeated by Octavian
30 AD - Death of Jesus Christ
68 AD - Death of Nero
117 AD - Death of Trajan
165 AD - Greek language dies out in Western Asia replaced by Aramaic
170 AD - Ptolemy develops mathematics and geography
224 AD - Sasanians (Achaemenid) topple Parthians
227 AD - End of Parthian rule
313 AD - Constantine makes Christianity legal in Roman Empire
324 AD - Constantine moves capital from Rome to Byzantium
325 AD - Council of Nicaea
330 AD - Greek City Byzantium becomes Constantinople
395 AD - Huns from north of the Black Sea begin raids
500 AD - Jewish Talmud written
610 AD - Mohammed from Mecca begins having revelations
622 AD - Mohammed flees to Medina
630 AD - Mohammed and Muslims conquer Mecca
632 AD - Death of Mohammed - Abu Bakr becomes first Caliph
634 AD - Death of Abu Bakr in Medina - Omar becomes Caliph
635 AD - Damascus falls to the Arabs
636 AD - Emperor Heraclius attempts to drive Muslims out of Syria but is defeated
636 AD - Islamic armies invade the Persian Empire
644 AD - Omar murdered by Christian slave - Umayya family controls empire
650 AD - standardized text of Quran completed
656 AD - Ali becomes Caliph but is pushed into Iraq/Iran (eventual base of Shias) by Umayyads
661 AD - Ali is assassinated - accession of the Umayyads
680 AD - Imam Hussein, Ali’s son, grandson of the Prophet, murdered at Kerbala
713 AD - Hussein’s first don poisoned to death
717 AD - begin reign of 13 Umayyad caliphs - Shiism retreats into rebel sect with own creed
732 AD - Hussein’s grandson poisoned to death & subsequent generations for 8 generations
747 AD - Abbasids topple the Umayyads, destroy Umayyad family & tombs of its 13 caliphs
752 AD - Abbasids move capital from Damascus to Kufa, in southern Iraq
754 AD - First Abbasid caliph dies of smallpox, succeeded by Al Mansour
762 AD - Al Mansour moves capital to Baghdad
874 AD - The Shia call generational martyrs Imams (Sunnis Refer to imam as merely a prayer leader)
874 AD - Shiism declares the 12th & last of the Shia Imams occulted
920 AD - The Al Kari, principal book of the Shia Hadith compiled
900-950 - End of reasoning in Islamic law, henceforth everything by established doctrine
1074 AD - Pope Gregory VII issuing calls for European army to march into the east
1095 AD - Pope Urban II preaches First Crusade at Clermont & across France
1099 AD - First Crusade takes Antioch, Tripoli, Beirut, Sidon, Tyre, Haifa and Jerusalem.
1204 AD - Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople
1219 AD - Genghis Khan and the Mongols subject Iran, Iraq, Central Asia to mayhem
1258 AD - Mongols sack Bagdad, overthrowing the Abbasid Caliphate
1260 AD - Levant, Aleppo and Damascus fall to Mongols
1260 AD - Cairo emerges as principal city of learning, religion and culture in the Muslim world
1265 AD - Death of Genghis Khan
1370 AD - Bulgaria and Serbia are Ottoman possessions
1384 AD - Turkish speaking Tamerlane, claiming Genghis Khan descent rises to power
1402 AD - Tamerlane defeats Ottoman Turks at Ankara
1405 AD - Death of Tamerlane (a/k/a Timur)
1453 AD - Ottomans under sultan Mehmet II take Constantinople
1501 AD - Shah Ismail founds Safavid dynasty in Iran making Shiism key rallying cry
1512 AD - Selim the Grim rises to power & slaughters Shias in Anatolia
1514 AD - Turkish speaking Ottomans are leading power of Islamic world, capitol Constantinople
1515 AD - Portuguese capture Hormuz & hold it until 1622
1529 AD - Suleiman unsuccessfully besieges Vienna
1534 AD - Suleiman conquers Baghdad
1555 AD - Treaty of Zuhab keeps Iraq Ottoman until the First World War
1566 AD - Death of Suleiman - Ottomans lose siege of Malta
1683-99 AD - Ottoman defeats & territorial losses
1736 AD - Fall of Safavid dynasty
1798 AD - Napoleon’s brief seizure of Egypt
1821 AD - Greece becomes 1st Ottoman province to gain independence
1830 AD - French seize Algiers
1839 AD - Ottomans begin realizing their decay and see expansion of industrialized Europe
1859 AD - Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species
1876 AD - Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and Montenegro break away from Ottoman sway
1881 AD - French take Tunisia from the Ottomans
1882 AD - British take control of Egypt
1900 AD - Iran only now recovers its population size that was decimated by the Mongols
1913 AD - Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia gain freedom from the Ottomans
1917 AD - British Indian army drive the Turks out of Baghdad
1917 AD - Balfour Declaration by British pledge Palestinian land to the Jews
1919 AD - Versailles peace conference partitions countries out of Ottoman Mesopotamian provinces
1922 AD - The Turks abolish the sultanate and found the Turkish Republic
1924 AD - Office of the caliph abolished by new Turkish Republic
1932 AD - League of Nations accepts Iraq as a nation
1938 AD - An Iraqi delegation participates in Hitler’s rally at Nuremberg
1940 AD - France defeated by Nazis, establishment of Vichy government
1941 AD - in Baghdad, Jewish shops looted & burned, synagogues destroyed, Jews killed
1951 AD - almost no Jews remain in Iraq
1952 AD - Nasser leads overthrow of King of Egypt
1956 AD - Nasser assumes presidency in Egypt, seizes Suez Canal from British & French.
1959 AD - the last British forces leave Iraq
1968 AD - Saddam Hussein becomes vice president of Iraq & later President
1974 AD - First Iraqi-Kurdish war, Saddam takes control of Kurdish provinces
1980 AD - Saddams Sunni dominated government invades Iran - Iran-Iraq war
1988 AD - Iran-Iraq war concludes with no territorial changes
1990 AD - Saddam invades Kuwait
1991 AD - U.S. assembles coalition that ends with ceasefire, Shia uprising begins in Basra
1991 AD - Bush allows Ba’ath gov’t to retake control fearing Khomeinist takeover
1991 AD - Kurds declare an autonomous zone outside of Baghdad’s control
2000 AD - Bush’s son, George W. Elected President of U.S.
2001 AD - 9/11 attack on U.S.
2003 AD - Younger Bush invades Iraq
-End-
This is a great account of ancient history but the work deteriorates in the 19th century. However, this account of ancient history is excellent for grounding one geographically in relation to Biblical stories.
I find that when reading history, two things are of great benefit: (1) illustrations, particularly maps and (2) a timeline. This author includes much of the former but neglects the latter, so I produced the timeline below from the book. Please note that in many cases the dates are approximate and the events are mostly particular to the history of Iraq, as set forth in the book. I hope you find it beneficial.
3000 BC - Sumerian and Akkadian civilizations. Uruk near mouth of the Euphrates earliest writing
2900 BC - Gilgamesh in Sumer’s early dynastic period
2000 BC - end of Sumerian civilization
2334 BC - Sargon of Akkad conquers, ending Sumer
2193 BC - Akkadian Empire founded by Sargon collapses
2004 BC - Elamite army sacks Ur
1850 BC - Abraham, the man from Ur, sets off over the horizon as the people of Babel are scattered
1700 BC - Atrahasis, a Babylonian epic, tells story of Utnapishtim, a Noah figure
1700 BC - Emergence of Rig Veda, Key text of Hinduism
1792 BC - King Hammurabi in Babylon
1500 BC - Phoenicians of Syrian coast develop first alphabet.
950 BC - First five books of the Old Testament (Pentateuch or Torah) written
700 BC - Epic of Gilgamesh at Nineveh
722 BC - Assyrian empire expatriates Jews to Mesopotamia
657 BC - Greek city Byzantium founded on European side of the Bosphorus
637 BC - Muslim conquest
600 BC - Jewish exiles in Babylon are influenced by ancient Zoroastrianism
600 BC - Birth of the Persian Cyrus the Great, founder of Achaemenid Empire
612 BC - Fall of Assyrian Empire - last Assyrian king in Nineveh - destruction of Nineveh
605 BC - Nebuchadnezzar begins brining Israelites to Babylon
586 BC - Destruction of Jerusalem by Babylonians
562 BC - Death of Nebuchadnezzar
546 BC - Death of Zarathushtra
539 BC - Persian king Cyrus conquers Iraq & Babylon
530 BC - Cyrus sends Hebrews back to Jerusalem
522 BC - Darius becomes king of Achaemenid empire
427 BC - Birth of Xenophon, Athenian writer of Cyropaedia and Anabasis
486 BC - Xerxes ascends throne upon death of Darius
480 BC - Xerxes’s army crosses into Europe over the Hellespont (Dardanelles Strait)
384 BC - Aristotle born in Macedonia
347 BC - Death of Plato
343 BC - Aristotle tutors Alexander the Great in Macedon
336 BC - Philip of Macedon murdered
334 BC - Alexander the Great crosses the Hellespont
333 BC - Alexander the Great resolves the Gordian Knot by slicing through it
331 BC - Alexander the Great takes Babylon, founds city of Alexandria in Egypt
330 BC - Cyrus’s last successor murdered after losses to Alexander the Great
323 BC - Death of Alexander the Great at Babylon
312 BC - Alexander’s officer, Seleucus, seizes Babylon & eventually much of empire
305 BC - Seleucus founds city, Seleucus, where Tigris & Euphrates come closest
295 BC - Euclid develops geometry
274 BC - War between Seleucus’s heirs and the Ptolemies of Egypt begins
240 BC - Antioch (now Antakya in Turkey) becomes capitol of shrinking Seleucids
212 BC - Archimedes develops physics
129 BC - Seleucid period ends, new invaders, the Parthians (Scythians)
63 BC - last of the Seleucid kings dies
44 BC - murder of Julius Caesar
41 BC - Antony encounters Cleopatra
31 BC - Cleopatra (last of the Ptolemy’s) & Antony defeated by Octavian
30 AD - Death of Jesus Christ
68 AD - Death of Nero
117 AD - Death of Trajan
165 AD - Greek language dies out in Western Asia replaced by Aramaic
170 AD - Ptolemy develops mathematics and geography
224 AD - Sasanians (Achaemenid) topple Parthians
227 AD - End of Parthian rule
313 AD - Constantine makes Christianity legal in Roman Empire
324 AD - Constantine moves capital from Rome to Byzantium
325 AD - Council of Nicaea
330 AD - Greek City Byzantium becomes Constantinople
395 AD - Huns from north of the Black Sea begin raids
500 AD - Jewish Talmud written
610 AD - Mohammed from Mecca begins having revelations
622 AD - Mohammed flees to Medina
630 AD - Mohammed and Muslims conquer Mecca
632 AD - Death of Mohammed - Abu Bakr becomes first Caliph
634 AD - Death of Abu Bakr in Medina - Omar becomes Caliph
635 AD - Damascus falls to the Arabs
636 AD - Emperor Heraclius attempts to drive Muslims out of Syria but is defeated
636 AD - Islamic armies invade the Persian Empire
644 AD - Omar murdered by Christian slave - Umayya family controls empire
650 AD - standardized text of Quran completed
656 AD - Ali becomes Caliph but is pushed into Iraq/Iran (eventual base of Shias) by Umayyads
661 AD - Ali is assassinated - accession of the Umayyads
680 AD - Imam Hussein, Ali’s son, grandson of the Prophet, murdered at Kerbala
713 AD - Hussein’s first don poisoned to death
717 AD - begin reign of 13 Umayyad caliphs - Shiism retreats into rebel sect with own creed
732 AD - Hussein’s grandson poisoned to death & subsequent generations for 8 generations
747 AD - Abbasids topple the Umayyads, destroy Umayyad family & tombs of its 13 caliphs
752 AD - Abbasids move capital from Damascus to Kufa, in southern Iraq
754 AD - First Abbasid caliph dies of smallpox, succeeded by Al Mansour
762 AD - Al Mansour moves capital to Baghdad
874 AD - The Shia call generational martyrs Imams (Sunnis Refer to imam as merely a prayer leader)
874 AD - Shiism declares the 12th & last of the Shia Imams occulted
920 AD - The Al Kari, principal book of the Shia Hadith compiled
900-950 - End of reasoning in Islamic law, henceforth everything by established doctrine
1074 AD - Pope Gregory VII issuing calls for European army to march into the east
1095 AD - Pope Urban II preaches First Crusade at Clermont & across France
1099 AD - First Crusade takes Antioch, Tripoli, Beirut, Sidon, Tyre, Haifa and Jerusalem.
1204 AD - Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople
1219 AD - Genghis Khan and the Mongols subject Iran, Iraq, Central Asia to mayhem
1258 AD - Mongols sack Bagdad, overthrowing the Abbasid Caliphate
1260 AD - Levant, Aleppo and Damascus fall to Mongols
1260 AD - Cairo emerges as principal city of learning, religion and culture in the Muslim world
1265 AD - Death of Genghis Khan
1370 AD - Bulgaria and Serbia are Ottoman possessions
1384 AD - Turkish speaking Tamerlane, claiming Genghis Khan descent rises to power
1402 AD - Tamerlane defeats Ottoman Turks at Ankara
1405 AD - Death of Tamerlane (a/k/a Timur)
1453 AD - Ottomans under sultan Mehmet II take Constantinople
1501 AD - Shah Ismail founds Safavid dynasty in Iran making Shiism key rallying cry
1512 AD - Selim the Grim rises to power & slaughters Shias in Anatolia
1514 AD - Turkish speaking Ottomans are leading power of Islamic world, capitol Constantinople
1515 AD - Portuguese capture Hormuz & hold it until 1622
1529 AD - Suleiman unsuccessfully besieges Vienna
1534 AD - Suleiman conquers Baghdad
1555 AD - Treaty of Zuhab keeps Iraq Ottoman until the First World War
1566 AD - Death of Suleiman - Ottomans lose siege of Malta
1683-99 AD - Ottoman defeats & territorial losses
1736 AD - Fall of Safavid dynasty
1798 AD - Napoleon’s brief seizure of Egypt
1821 AD - Greece becomes 1st Ottoman province to gain independence
1830 AD - French seize Algiers
1839 AD - Ottomans begin realizing their decay and see expansion of industrialized Europe
1859 AD - Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species
1876 AD - Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and Montenegro break away from Ottoman sway
1881 AD - French take Tunisia from the Ottomans
1882 AD - British take control of Egypt
1900 AD - Iran only now recovers its population size that was decimated by the Mongols
1913 AD - Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia gain freedom from the Ottomans
1917 AD - British Indian army drive the Turks out of Baghdad
1917 AD - Balfour Declaration by British pledge Palestinian land to the Jews
1919 AD - Versailles peace conference partitions countries out of Ottoman Mesopotamian provinces
1922 AD - The Turks abolish the sultanate and found the Turkish Republic
1924 AD - Office of the caliph abolished by new Turkish Republic
1932 AD - League of Nations accepts Iraq as a nation
1938 AD - An Iraqi delegation participates in Hitler’s rally at Nuremberg
1940 AD - France defeated by Nazis, establishment of Vichy government
1941 AD - in Baghdad, Jewish shops looted & burned, synagogues destroyed, Jews killed
1951 AD - almost no Jews remain in Iraq
1952 AD - Nasser leads overthrow of King of Egypt
1956 AD - Nasser assumes presidency in Egypt, seizes Suez Canal from British & French.
1959 AD - the last British forces leave Iraq
1968 AD - Saddam Hussein becomes vice president of Iraq & later President
1974 AD - First Iraqi-Kurdish war, Saddam takes control of Kurdish provinces
1980 AD - Saddams Sunni dominated government invades Iran - Iran-Iraq war
1988 AD - Iran-Iraq war concludes with no territorial changes
1990 AD - Saddam invades Kuwait
1991 AD - U.S. assembles coalition that ends with ceasefire, Shia uprising begins in Basra
1991 AD - Bush allows Ba’ath gov’t to retake control fearing Khomeinist takeover
1991 AD - Kurds declare an autonomous zone outside of Baghdad’s control
2000 AD - Bush’s son, George W. Elected President of U.S.
2001 AD - 9/11 attack on U.S.
2003 AD - Younger Bush invades Iraq
-End-
November 13, 2025
This book is terrible & I’m a worse person for having read it.
From the beginning, the author’s assertion that being a journalist in the area for 10 years makes him an authority on the subject made me raise an eyebrow. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and trudged on.
Throughout, Bull’s disdain for Muslims and Arabs is palpable. He very clearly sees them as less-than human and goes out of his way and seemingly without purpose, to include nasty quotes from old white men about Arabs being “beasts.”
His description of Prophet Mohammad included claims I have literally never read or heard in my life - i.e. “he never laughed or smiled.” Like, what? I’ve read a lot of books about early Islam and I’ve never, ever heard this, quite the opposite. Bull is also sure to avoid any evidence of positive descriptors of Mohammad or his companions during his lifetime or anything positive from his legacy.
I’m sad that so many reviewers think that this “book” is a good overview of history in the region. I mean, my god, just take a look at the epilogue to see that this man is blinded by his hate for these people. He justifies the US’s invasion of Iraq where Bull basically says “Saddam *was* being sneaky.” He also blames Iraq for 9/11 (WHAT?!) & claims Saddam was linked with al-queda despite admitting all reports say otherwise and tries to say they still ‘may’ have had WMD. He says Hussein did not comply with UN weapons inspections which is such an insane claim that the war hawks aren’t even saying this!
I have a hard time believing that Dick Cheney himself would have gone this hard justifying the invasion in 2024.
Also, the author has clear fetishizing tendencies. Any time he can find a vague reference to anything sexual, you can bet he’s included it. As if he’s saying “oh, you think these people were modest? No! They wrote a book called ‘Masturbation’!” His descriptions of vast amounts of time are boiled down to an Eastern fetish with Harems. His aim is to humiliate but it comes across as an unhealthy infatuation on Bull’s behalf.
He is loath to credit Arabs or Muslims with any of their achievements - forcing in a way to credit ancient Greeks instead.
tldr: this guy/book are the worst & I’m so pissed I wasted my time/$ on garbage that Tucker Carlson may as well have written. Pretty sure Saddam slept with his mom or something.
From the beginning, the author’s assertion that being a journalist in the area for 10 years makes him an authority on the subject made me raise an eyebrow. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and trudged on.
Throughout, Bull’s disdain for Muslims and Arabs is palpable. He very clearly sees them as less-than human and goes out of his way and seemingly without purpose, to include nasty quotes from old white men about Arabs being “beasts.”
His description of Prophet Mohammad included claims I have literally never read or heard in my life - i.e. “he never laughed or smiled.” Like, what? I’ve read a lot of books about early Islam and I’ve never, ever heard this, quite the opposite. Bull is also sure to avoid any evidence of positive descriptors of Mohammad or his companions during his lifetime or anything positive from his legacy.
I’m sad that so many reviewers think that this “book” is a good overview of history in the region. I mean, my god, just take a look at the epilogue to see that this man is blinded by his hate for these people. He justifies the US’s invasion of Iraq where Bull basically says “Saddam *was* being sneaky.” He also blames Iraq for 9/11 (WHAT?!) & claims Saddam was linked with al-queda despite admitting all reports say otherwise and tries to say they still ‘may’ have had WMD. He says Hussein did not comply with UN weapons inspections which is such an insane claim that the war hawks aren’t even saying this!
I have a hard time believing that Dick Cheney himself would have gone this hard justifying the invasion in 2024.
Also, the author has clear fetishizing tendencies. Any time he can find a vague reference to anything sexual, you can bet he’s included it. As if he’s saying “oh, you think these people were modest? No! They wrote a book called ‘Masturbation’!” His descriptions of vast amounts of time are boiled down to an Eastern fetish with Harems. His aim is to humiliate but it comes across as an unhealthy infatuation on Bull’s behalf.
He is loath to credit Arabs or Muslims with any of their achievements - forcing in a way to credit ancient Greeks instead.
tldr: this guy/book are the worst & I’m so pissed I wasted my time/$ on garbage that Tucker Carlson may as well have written. Pretty sure Saddam slept with his mom or something.
October 6, 2024
Odds are your ancient or world history class began with a study of the Sumerians and thus in Mesopotamia. You may have spent a day or two learning about the Assyrians and Babylonians. But then your study of history would have been directed elsewhere. Yet the land of Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq, would continue, and often would prove of great importance to world affairs and events.
In Land Between the Rivers: A 5,000 Year History of Iraq (galley received as part of an early review program), Bartle Bull attempted to tell the long story of the history and heritage of Mesopotamia and Iraq by means of major characters in its history.
Thus he would begin with Gilgamesh and the early days of Sumerian civilization in the southern marshes of the land, and yet so much of Gilgamesh and his epic would redound through the ages. Abraham and his journey to Canaan are described, with the long-term influence of his descendants on Mesopotamia noted. Ashurbanipal and Nebuchadnezzar feature prominently as the greatest kings of the last great native Mesopotamian empires. Persian kings, Greek soldiers, and Jewish exiles are then described.
With Alexander the Great we begin a long period during which we learn comparatively little about Mesopotamia/Iraq itself, and more about the imperial powers, centered in Syria and Rome to the west or in Persia to the east, which would dominate from 333 BCE to 630s CE: Alexander, the Seleucids, the Romans, the Parthians, the Byzantines, and the Sassanids. Then there was Khalid ibn al Walid, the “Sword of Allah,” who would bring down the great empires; the author’s description of the Umayyad state along with Ali and his son Hussein in the latter part of the seventh century is the best description of the Sunni/Shiite division and differences between the Sunni and Shiite ideologies I have yet come across. And for good reason: the story of Iraq would strongly feature the divisions between the Sunni and the Shiite.
Much is then made of the Abbasid period from 750 to 1258 since it was centered at Baghdad. With the destruction by the Mongols there is the recognition of the devastation of Mesopotamian irrigation and thus its population which would only really see reverses in the last century. The story again shifted away from Mesopotamia proper, and this time to the northwest, as the Ottomans ruled over the land from 1520 until 1918.
The author then dived in with rich detail regarding the elevation of Faisal I as King of Iraq and the development of the Kingdom of Iraq from the British Mandate. The work ends with a discussion of the period of independence from 1932 until the coup of 1958, with the aftereffects of the coup, and especially Saddam Hussein and all which came after him, reserved for the afterword.
Thus the history of Iraq over a 5,000 year period is covered, but rather unevenly. This is mostly a “big man” historical work: you learn much more about the major characters and players and far less about what life was like for the average person in Iraq at any point in its history. Nevertheless, this is a great work for anyone interested in the history of Mesopotamia and Iraq, especially if you would like to better understand why and how Iraq is as it is today.
In Land Between the Rivers: A 5,000 Year History of Iraq (galley received as part of an early review program), Bartle Bull attempted to tell the long story of the history and heritage of Mesopotamia and Iraq by means of major characters in its history.
Thus he would begin with Gilgamesh and the early days of Sumerian civilization in the southern marshes of the land, and yet so much of Gilgamesh and his epic would redound through the ages. Abraham and his journey to Canaan are described, with the long-term influence of his descendants on Mesopotamia noted. Ashurbanipal and Nebuchadnezzar feature prominently as the greatest kings of the last great native Mesopotamian empires. Persian kings, Greek soldiers, and Jewish exiles are then described.
With Alexander the Great we begin a long period during which we learn comparatively little about Mesopotamia/Iraq itself, and more about the imperial powers, centered in Syria and Rome to the west or in Persia to the east, which would dominate from 333 BCE to 630s CE: Alexander, the Seleucids, the Romans, the Parthians, the Byzantines, and the Sassanids. Then there was Khalid ibn al Walid, the “Sword of Allah,” who would bring down the great empires; the author’s description of the Umayyad state along with Ali and his son Hussein in the latter part of the seventh century is the best description of the Sunni/Shiite division and differences between the Sunni and Shiite ideologies I have yet come across. And for good reason: the story of Iraq would strongly feature the divisions between the Sunni and the Shiite.
Much is then made of the Abbasid period from 750 to 1258 since it was centered at Baghdad. With the destruction by the Mongols there is the recognition of the devastation of Mesopotamian irrigation and thus its population which would only really see reverses in the last century. The story again shifted away from Mesopotamia proper, and this time to the northwest, as the Ottomans ruled over the land from 1520 until 1918.
The author then dived in with rich detail regarding the elevation of Faisal I as King of Iraq and the development of the Kingdom of Iraq from the British Mandate. The work ends with a discussion of the period of independence from 1932 until the coup of 1958, with the aftereffects of the coup, and especially Saddam Hussein and all which came after him, reserved for the afterword.
Thus the history of Iraq over a 5,000 year period is covered, but rather unevenly. This is mostly a “big man” historical work: you learn much more about the major characters and players and far less about what life was like for the average person in Iraq at any point in its history. Nevertheless, this is a great work for anyone interested in the history of Mesopotamia and Iraq, especially if you would like to better understand why and how Iraq is as it is today.
July 5, 2024
ARC received through NetGalley.
Mesopotamia, the eponymous Land Between the Rivers, is a region of the world I have to admit always took a back seat in my interest in historical reading. The Egyptians were a childhood obsession, astounding with architectural feats still standing proud to this day and giving me the name of my dog - Anubis. The Greeks and the Norse excited my teenage imagination with colourful myths and legends, and their stories of exploring foreign lands (in more or less friendly ways). My early twenties saw a somewhat hipster-ish disinterest in all things Rome, and a budding love-affair with Genghis Khan's Mongolia, pre-British Raj India, Warring States and Three Kingdoms China, Sengoku Jidai Japan, pre- and colonial Southern Africa, the Khazar Khaganate, and many more. And of course my student years were spent studying (and partying) the European
Middle-Ages and early Modern Era. But throughout all this, the lands of Sumer, Babylon, Akkadia, Assyria and and the whole of the Middle-East were typically absent. Sure, these lands would make a guest appearance in other peoples' shows - the Hittites as enemies of the Egyptians, the Persians as the eternal enemies of the Greeks and the Eastern Romans, the Zoroastrians as part of my general interest in religious history and syncretism in Eurasia. Yet they never stuck. And this is doing the "cradle of civilisation" a great disservice, one which Mr. Bartle Bull remedies through out the book.
Covering the 5000 year-ish history of what is now Iraq and its surrounding regions, from ancient Sumer to the 1950s, "Land Between the Rivers' is not an in-depth paper written with academic rigour on a highly specific historical topic. It is a summary of highlights to peak the interest of people who know little of the region and its cultural weight in history. I was especially intrigued by the sections on the region's relationship with religion, namely the Abrahamic faiths.
Well written, and rather familiar in styling, "Land Between the Rivers" is an easy read, but it needs to be said that this is an easy read because it avoids a lot of the pedantry inherent to proper academic historical writing. This means that at times the author skips over a lot of the detail, which often colours the reader's understanding of what is being discussed at any time.
Mesopotamia, the eponymous Land Between the Rivers, is a region of the world I have to admit always took a back seat in my interest in historical reading. The Egyptians were a childhood obsession, astounding with architectural feats still standing proud to this day and giving me the name of my dog - Anubis. The Greeks and the Norse excited my teenage imagination with colourful myths and legends, and their stories of exploring foreign lands (in more or less friendly ways). My early twenties saw a somewhat hipster-ish disinterest in all things Rome, and a budding love-affair with Genghis Khan's Mongolia, pre-British Raj India, Warring States and Three Kingdoms China, Sengoku Jidai Japan, pre- and colonial Southern Africa, the Khazar Khaganate, and many more. And of course my student years were spent studying (and partying) the European
Middle-Ages and early Modern Era. But throughout all this, the lands of Sumer, Babylon, Akkadia, Assyria and and the whole of the Middle-East were typically absent. Sure, these lands would make a guest appearance in other peoples' shows - the Hittites as enemies of the Egyptians, the Persians as the eternal enemies of the Greeks and the Eastern Romans, the Zoroastrians as part of my general interest in religious history and syncretism in Eurasia. Yet they never stuck. And this is doing the "cradle of civilisation" a great disservice, one which Mr. Bartle Bull remedies through out the book.
Covering the 5000 year-ish history of what is now Iraq and its surrounding regions, from ancient Sumer to the 1950s, "Land Between the Rivers' is not an in-depth paper written with academic rigour on a highly specific historical topic. It is a summary of highlights to peak the interest of people who know little of the region and its cultural weight in history. I was especially intrigued by the sections on the region's relationship with religion, namely the Abrahamic faiths.
Well written, and rather familiar in styling, "Land Between the Rivers" is an easy read, but it needs to be said that this is an easy read because it avoids a lot of the pedantry inherent to proper academic historical writing. This means that at times the author skips over a lot of the detail, which often colours the reader's understanding of what is being discussed at any time.
September 5, 2024
I have always deeply appreciated curiosity about foreign lands, and Iraq is certainly a land with a rich history behind it, one that not everyone knows about or is truly interested in. When I found this book, I was honestly happy to be able to read it and gain new insights into Iraq, both past and present.
Five thousand years is a long time, and of course, many things have happened during this period, some better, others less positive. Summarizing all of those events in one book is honestly a task that certainly requires great care and passion.
I found the entire book extremely well-researched, paying close attention to the events of various eras and maintaining a broad perspective, though at times this led to a certain loss in readability. In some sections, the tone became overly omniscient, and it felt like I was conversing with someone who positioned themselves as an authority on everything, claiming to possess an enormous and complete knowledge on the subject, and therefore, infallible. This resulted in some annoying phrases because they weren’t fully supported by historical reasoning but were instead presented as a simple mix of opinions and facts that "had to be that way because, for the author, they were the logical outcome of certain other events."
Overall, I consider this to be the most meticulously researched and attentive work on history that I’ve had the chance to read. It’s certainly rich in details—sometimes even too many for a reader who thinks they can absorb them all at once—which pushes you to read the book multiple times and in intervals, making it easier to digest the information. My advice is to read it in small doses, a little at a time, and focus primarily on the historically verified information, leaving aside those conclusions that seem like they're "made by" the author alone.
Really thank you to Netgalley for the ARC
Five thousand years is a long time, and of course, many things have happened during this period, some better, others less positive. Summarizing all of those events in one book is honestly a task that certainly requires great care and passion.
I found the entire book extremely well-researched, paying close attention to the events of various eras and maintaining a broad perspective, though at times this led to a certain loss in readability. In some sections, the tone became overly omniscient, and it felt like I was conversing with someone who positioned themselves as an authority on everything, claiming to possess an enormous and complete knowledge on the subject, and therefore, infallible. This resulted in some annoying phrases because they weren’t fully supported by historical reasoning but were instead presented as a simple mix of opinions and facts that "had to be that way because, for the author, they were the logical outcome of certain other events."
Overall, I consider this to be the most meticulously researched and attentive work on history that I’ve had the chance to read. It’s certainly rich in details—sometimes even too many for a reader who thinks they can absorb them all at once—which pushes you to read the book multiple times and in intervals, making it easier to digest the information. My advice is to read it in small doses, a little at a time, and focus primarily on the historically verified information, leaving aside those conclusions that seem like they're "made by" the author alone.
Really thank you to Netgalley for the ARC
March 19, 2025
*4.54 Stars
Notes: I read this book over several weeks, so that I could try to understand it more. I have been researching history for a while, as well as reading nonfiction on it. I had an advanced history class when I was in high school. I could understand this novel and I was okay enough reading through it.
There are long paragraphs and lengthy descriptions in this novel. There are several chapters that have to be fully understood to be read through. The writing style properly describes enough of what happens in the plotline of the book.
Should someone have enough time to try to read through this book, it can be read through. There are enough accurate descriptions of researched information for even unknown concepts to then be further understood.
This book is going to be difficult for some to read through. It is over 500 pages long and contains factual information on Iraq and some other countries in the eastern half of the world. I read through and understood as much as I possibly could at the moment. However - this is a warning. I read this book by choice [from an interest of history], I am going to automatically include that. I have an interest in history going back for thousands and thousands of years. I have read and been okay with historical research articles that got minimal ratings on them.
I would recommend this novel to those who can understand what it is about. The content inside of it is okay enough to be understood and read through under stress.
Notes: I read this book over several weeks, so that I could try to understand it more. I have been researching history for a while, as well as reading nonfiction on it. I had an advanced history class when I was in high school. I could understand this novel and I was okay enough reading through it.
There are long paragraphs and lengthy descriptions in this novel. There are several chapters that have to be fully understood to be read through. The writing style properly describes enough of what happens in the plotline of the book.
Should someone have enough time to try to read through this book, it can be read through. There are enough accurate descriptions of researched information for even unknown concepts to then be further understood.
This book is going to be difficult for some to read through. It is over 500 pages long and contains factual information on Iraq and some other countries in the eastern half of the world. I read through and understood as much as I possibly could at the moment. However - this is a warning. I read this book by choice [from an interest of history], I am going to automatically include that. I have an interest in history going back for thousands and thousands of years. I have read and been okay with historical research articles that got minimal ratings on them.
I would recommend this novel to those who can understand what it is about. The content inside of it is okay enough to be understood and read through under stress.
December 20, 2024
In this fascinatingly complex and detailed history of Iraq over the last five thousand years, Bartle Bull traces the development of modern civilization through Uruk and the Mesopotamian city-states to the Akkadian, Alexandrian, and Ottoman empires and the fall of the Iraqi monarchy in 1958. Analyzing several critical historical themes like religion and religious schism, freedom versus tyranny, cultural exchange and evolution, and conflicts and tensions both ancient and modern, Bull makes the ancient history of the region relevant to its more modern situation and the familiar elements dissected in the news media apparatus. In exploring Iraq and its central role in world and global history, Bull brings it to life in incredible detail through his thematic focuses and chronological organization. Perfect for historians and interested readers alike, the precise historical research and the excellent language and prose make this an engaging and informative read. Despite covering five thousand years in a single book, it does not feel overwhelming or needlessly dense, so readers still new to historical nonfiction should still manage to read and understand this new release. Complex, brilliantly written, and very detailed, Bull’s new book about the history of Iraq and its international importance is a must-read for historians and other readers interested in global politics over the millennia.
Thanks to NetGalley, Grove Atlantic, and Atlantic Monthly Press for the advance copy.
Thanks to NetGalley, Grove Atlantic, and Atlantic Monthly Press for the advance copy.
May 4, 2025
I have just started reading this book and while it is written in a manner that is easy to read, once I looked at the included photographs, including one of a sculpture of the Sumerian goddess Ishtar (Inanna), I started having serious misgivings about his possible bias.
Anyone who knows anything about the Sumerian era knows of Ishtar, knows of this iconic image of her. Yet Bartle Bull seemingly does not. He captioned the photo with the words, "Sumerian devotional statuary, late third millennium BC". Ok. So no. No longer impressed by his background, his writing, or his "facts". As I continue to read this book, I will be assessing it's entirety for signs of bias, as I feel like he's just another good ol' boy writing for the boys. He gives the goddess no respect so I find it hard to respect him. Already in his telling of the story of Gilgamesh I am finding it a tale of boys hanging out with boys, doing the things that boys do, with a disparaging description of Ishtar/Inanna.
I use the term boys deliberately, as anyone who cannot accept women goddesses as forces in their own right, are boys. Not men.
I was hoping for a fair and balanced history, but I don't know if I will find it here. The beginning is not promising, and if he's just going to go along with the status quo in his depiction of the history of Iraq I will give this book even less stars. Not interested in your bull, Bartle.
Anyone who knows anything about the Sumerian era knows of Ishtar, knows of this iconic image of her. Yet Bartle Bull seemingly does not. He captioned the photo with the words, "Sumerian devotional statuary, late third millennium BC". Ok. So no. No longer impressed by his background, his writing, or his "facts". As I continue to read this book, I will be assessing it's entirety for signs of bias, as I feel like he's just another good ol' boy writing for the boys. He gives the goddess no respect so I find it hard to respect him. Already in his telling of the story of Gilgamesh I am finding it a tale of boys hanging out with boys, doing the things that boys do, with a disparaging description of Ishtar/Inanna.
I use the term boys deliberately, as anyone who cannot accept women goddesses as forces in their own right, are boys. Not men.
I was hoping for a fair and balanced history, but I don't know if I will find it here. The beginning is not promising, and if he's just going to go along with the status quo in his depiction of the history of Iraq I will give this book even less stars. Not interested in your bull, Bartle.
October 25, 2025
Land Between the Rivers: A 5000-Year History of Iraq by Bartle Bull is an extraordinary chronicle of civilization’s birthplace, a sweeping narrative that spans from the epic of Gilgamesh to the fall of Iraq’s last monarchy. With ten years of research distilled into one masterful volume, Bull delivers a work of breathtaking scope, insight, and literary grace.
Through five millennia of triumph and turmoil, Bull traces the evolution of a land where empires rose and fell where East met West, myth met history, and power met faith. His storytelling moves seamlessly from the walls of Uruk to the royal palaces of Baghdad, revealing how Iraq’s complex history reflects humanity’s own struggle between humanism and domination, creation and destruction.
Richly detailed yet deeply human, Land Between the Rivers stands as both a historical epic and a philosophical reflection. Bull’s command of narrative turns ancient history into living memory, offering readers not just facts, but perspective a meditation on civilization’s resilience and fragility.
For readers of A History of the World in 100 Objects and Jerusalem: The Biography, this is a landmark work of narrative history vast in vision, intimate in understanding, and essential to grasping the currents that still shape our modern world.
Through five millennia of triumph and turmoil, Bull traces the evolution of a land where empires rose and fell where East met West, myth met history, and power met faith. His storytelling moves seamlessly from the walls of Uruk to the royal palaces of Baghdad, revealing how Iraq’s complex history reflects humanity’s own struggle between humanism and domination, creation and destruction.
Richly detailed yet deeply human, Land Between the Rivers stands as both a historical epic and a philosophical reflection. Bull’s command of narrative turns ancient history into living memory, offering readers not just facts, but perspective a meditation on civilization’s resilience and fragility.
For readers of A History of the World in 100 Objects and Jerusalem: The Biography, this is a landmark work of narrative history vast in vision, intimate in understanding, and essential to grasping the currents that still shape our modern world.
June 30, 2025
I would have loved to give this book more stars (not 5) for the history aspect spanning the 5000 years as stated in the title. However, the author is very biased in his tellings of sooo many accounts that it's hard to believe him. His historical accounts on Islam and depiction of the main people associated with its inception is WRONG. He takes Quranic verses out of context to support his examples of actions and behaviors. There are just so many things wrong to list. Anyone not a Muslim or a student of Islam would think what the author says is correct. For a book published fairly recently, the author consistently used 19th and early 20th century sources for his information on Islam, Muslims, and the people of that area.
The author also purposely NEVER used the name Istanbul once it was conquered and changed from Constantinople. However, for other places if the name was changed, the author used the new one.
Narrators should be able to pronounce the names of people and places correctly.
The author also purposely NEVER used the name Istanbul once it was conquered and changed from Constantinople. However, for other places if the name was changed, the author used the new one.
Narrators should be able to pronounce the names of people and places correctly.
January 25, 2025
(Audiobook) (3.5 stars) A solid if not spectacular work that looks at the human history of the region now known as Iraq. This is not so much a straight political or socio-economic one, but rather, just a history of human interaction. There is no shortage of activity and going in, one volume is not going to offer the most complete picture possible. That being said, this work spends as much time reviewing literature/religion as it does any political/written human history. Those offer some broad, important context, but at times, this work feels as much literary criticisms as history. The later stages seem a bit rushed, as the author tries to cover all of the dynamics of the region, as the modern state of Iraq is overtaken by various factions and forces. It does come across more as a regional sort of history vs. strictly “Iraq”. It had its moments, but perhaps it tried to bite off more than it could chew.
August 28, 2024
This book isn’t really a 5000-year history of Iraq. It’s a book of great moments in the history of Iraq. It really gets down into the weeds of those great moments, going into far more detail than I wanted. The book is full of misogyny and homophobia, perhaps simply reflecting the era, but it showed no sensitivity in dealing with those subjects. It just was not a pleasant read.
I gave up when I reached the infighting after the death of the prophet Mohammed. I felt like this book took a bunch of familiar topics available from other sources, and bundled them together into a single book. There was no sense of continuity, no real analysis of why things happened. In that sense, it’s more biography than history. Maybe other readers will find it interesting, but I just found it wearying.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.
I gave up when I reached the infighting after the death of the prophet Mohammed. I felt like this book took a bunch of familiar topics available from other sources, and bundled them together into a single book. There was no sense of continuity, no real analysis of why things happened. In that sense, it’s more biography than history. Maybe other readers will find it interesting, but I just found it wearying.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.
November 10, 2024
Just finished reading this epic book a couple of hours ago. It is indeed a commitment because the book begins in pre-history, Mesopotamia. This book has beauty, bloodshed, the integration of peoples, religions and artefacts and its very very beautifully written.
The descriptions of Babylon, Palmyra, the riverbanks of the Euphrates and Tigris and the visuals of those times makes you want to go back an explore. To be honest, this book has intrigued me more about Iraq and I would love to travel to the region some time.
The last 200 pages of the book are more based on Iraq today. Political turmoil, short bursts of peace, terrorism and the harsh truth that religion leads to problems- especially if it’s radical religion.
I highly recommend this book by Bartle Bull for anyone, in any career sphere, who would like to learn more about Iraq.
The descriptions of Babylon, Palmyra, the riverbanks of the Euphrates and Tigris and the visuals of those times makes you want to go back an explore. To be honest, this book has intrigued me more about Iraq and I would love to travel to the region some time.
The last 200 pages of the book are more based on Iraq today. Political turmoil, short bursts of peace, terrorism and the harsh truth that religion leads to problems- especially if it’s radical religion.
I highly recommend this book by Bartle Bull for anyone, in any career sphere, who would like to learn more about Iraq.
May 23, 2024
This is a very thorough but not incredibly dense read of the history of Iraq. I need a hard copy of this as soon as it comes out.
It is chronological with each chapter focusing on a different time period and feels complete telling its own story. Starting with focuses on individuals like Gilgamesh, Abraham, and Alexander the Great, before going into the civilizations that dominated the area and then eventual Iraqi independence.
I want my own hard copy now so I can mark this up for historical references. I loved this so much. Also, I am a huge fan of all the maps. This was so good.
Thank you NetGalley and Atlantic Monthly Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
It is chronological with each chapter focusing on a different time period and feels complete telling its own story. Starting with focuses on individuals like Gilgamesh, Abraham, and Alexander the Great, before going into the civilizations that dominated the area and then eventual Iraqi independence.
I want my own hard copy now so I can mark this up for historical references. I loved this so much. Also, I am a huge fan of all the maps. This was so good.
Thank you NetGalley and Atlantic Monthly Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
September 6, 2024
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Fantastic history of the land now known as Iraq. Written by a journalist rather than a historian, this book is a refreshing and enjoyable read, with interesting personal anecdotes about the authors time covering the region. Most histories of the region only cover ancient times or the Saddam/post-Saddam era — this book does an admirable job of bridging the two and helping us understand the challenges facing Iraq and appreciate the resilience of its people.
Fantastic history of the land now known as Iraq. Written by a journalist rather than a historian, this book is a refreshing and enjoyable read, with interesting personal anecdotes about the authors time covering the region. Most histories of the region only cover ancient times or the Saddam/post-Saddam era — this book does an admirable job of bridging the two and helping us understand the challenges facing Iraq and appreciate the resilience of its people.
January 23, 2026
Absolutely remarkable to write a 5,000 year history of a middle eastern country and rely 80% on western, colonial, imperialistic sources written from 1840s-1990s. The lack of Iraqi-penned (or even wider Arab) scholarship, particularly in the chapters chronicling the schism between Shia and Sunni Islam, is astonishing. This book oozes orientalist intrigue and is at its best in the early ancient and Hellenistic sections. I’m not even well-versed in this area of history, but the source material he pulls from is glaring
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