What do you think?
Rate this book
من الثورة إلى الديكتاتورية: العراق منذ 1958
من الصعب الكتابة حول العراق بتجرد. وخصوصا بالنسبة لمن له خلفية طويلة من الاهتمام بالعراق والعراقيين. لقد كتبت الطبعة الأولى من هذا الكتاب عام 1985 وبعد خمسة عشر عاما من ذلك التاريخ ما يزال نفس النظام البشع ممسكا بالسلطة ولقد تدهور وضع المواطن العادي في العراق تدهورا هائلا. من المؤكد انه من الضروري إيجاد حل لمأزق الشعب العراقي في بغداد وليس في نيويورك أو واشنطن.
413 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1987
About the author
Marion Farouk-Sluglett
3 books1 followerMarion, a native of Berlin, traveled to Baghdad as a teenager with her family in the early 1950s. There she met and married Omar Farouk al-Awqati, a young officer from Mosul attached to the court of King Faisal II. He only revealed his affiliation with the banned Communist Party of Iraq at the moment of the July 1958 revolution that overthrew the monarchy. Marion, her anti-fascist commitment formed out of her German childhood, instinctually associated herself with the Iraqi left in the subsequent years of recurrent clashes with Baathist forces. The Baath seized power in a bloody putsch in February 1963, and tortured and killed thousands of communists, among them Omar Farouk. Marion fled to Berlin that summer with Omar’s parents and her baby sons, Marwan and Sha‘lan.
Marion remained engaged with the life of her adopted county, and her tiny Berlin apartment hosted scores of solidarity meetings on Iraq. She also began doctoral studies at Humboldt University. It was while working in the British Public Record Office that she met Peter Sluglett, who was himself researching Iraq’s British mandate period. To those of us who knew them, they always conveyed an unabashed enthusiasm for each other’s company, all the more so for those frequent times when jobs and research grants placed them apart. As a team they produced a wide range of essays on land tenure, labor movements, ideological trends and historiography. It is worth recalling that the highly critical appraisal of Iraq that Marion provided in these pages and in her book was produced at a time when most writings in the West were deferential, if not openly apologetic, to the regime in Baghdad. In the 1980s, as Baghdad warred against revolutionary Iran, this deference fully accorded with the political agendas of the great powers. This was a time when Marion was active in launching the Committee Against Repression and for Democratic Rights in Iraq, and bringing the work of dissident Iraqi intellectuals to the attention of Western readers.
Marion remained engaged with the life of her adopted county, and her tiny Berlin apartment hosted scores of solidarity meetings on Iraq. She also began doctoral studies at Humboldt University. It was while working in the British Public Record Office that she met Peter Sluglett, who was himself researching Iraq’s British mandate period. To those of us who knew them, they always conveyed an unabashed enthusiasm for each other’s company, all the more so for those frequent times when jobs and research grants placed them apart. As a team they produced a wide range of essays on land tenure, labor movements, ideological trends and historiography. It is worth recalling that the highly critical appraisal of Iraq that Marion provided in these pages and in her book was produced at a time when most writings in the West were deferential, if not openly apologetic, to the regime in Baghdad. In the 1980s, as Baghdad warred against revolutionary Iran, this deference fully accorded with the political agendas of the great powers. This was a time when Marion was active in launching the Committee Against Repression and for Democratic Rights in Iraq, and bringing the work of dissident Iraqi intellectuals to the attention of Western readers.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 17, 2026
كتاب إنسلوبيدي عن تاريخ العراق منذ التأسيس حتى عام 2001. ينقصه التحرير، الكثير من التحرير، ومحاولات المعرب نفسها تحتاج إلى تحرير، الكتاب في بعض الأحيان يصبح عمل هجين وليس عمل أكاديمي رصين من كثرة الأخطاء به. ولكن، يُحسب لمؤلفيه جهود كتابته قبل الإفراج عن الوثائق في أعقاب الغزو الأمريكي حيث اعتمادهم على رسائل جامعية للدكتوراة كثيرة، ولكن الكتاب بالطبع يقوم الجزء الأكبر منه على عمل بطاطو التأسيسي وعلى بعض من الأعمال الكلاسيكية لمؤرخين مثل خدوري وغيرهم. يمتلك المؤرخ بعض وجهات النظر المثيرة والكتاب فيه إضاءات مفيدة، بالطبع يمتلك وجهة نظر أثبت الزمن خطئها بأن زوال نظام صدام حسين سيكون جزءًا من مساعي إحلال السلام في منطقة الشرق الأوسط وهو ما ثبت عكسه تمامًا، ولكن، أي شخص كان ليأمل في هذا بالطبع خيرًا من وجود حاكم مجنون ودموي مثل صدام. أعتقد أن الكتاب حاليًا هناك كتب أخرى إنسلوبيدية بديلة عنه وأفضل وأحدث في تاريخ العراق الذي كتب عنه الكثير
February 1, 2008
I read chapter 7, "Economy and Society since 1958," and chapter 8, "The War between Iraq and Iran."
Another text full of economic tables, numbers, percentages, etc. And the authors are telling a similar story: the relative irrelevance of the state control by various political parties within Iraq compared to the dominant role of the oil industry -- both inside and outside of Iraq.
The tone has a bit of a "dependency theory" feel (famous dependency theorists from Latin America are cited along the way.)
The apex of state expenditure on social infrastructure and social services in Iraq lasts from the post oil boom period (1973 onwards) to the beginning of the war with Iran (1980).
The author's point out that while the various regimes that took state control from 1958 to 1980 all pursued the goals of social egalitarianism, none of them were really "socialist." Indeed, no only did all of them eventually persecute the very active Iraqi Communist Party, they also operated under the principles of state capitalism. Thus we have state control of the oil industry, state provision of social services, Keynesian style state expenditure on major infrastructure projects -- which are then carried out by private means for the purposes of profit, and state sale of oil on the world market. This "mix" was similar to many third world countries with the difference that no many of them had Iraq's oil.
The authors also make an important point: when revenues, rather than emerging from the labor of the people, emerge instead from foreign aid (Egypt, pre-PDPA Afghanistan) or from the external sale of oil (Saudi Arabia, Iraq), the state has no reason to stay connected to the society. The state moves from being a immanent actor to transcending the needs and connections with the local.
Tough reading but the structural analysis is sharp.
Another text full of economic tables, numbers, percentages, etc. And the authors are telling a similar story: the relative irrelevance of the state control by various political parties within Iraq compared to the dominant role of the oil industry -- both inside and outside of Iraq.
The tone has a bit of a "dependency theory" feel (famous dependency theorists from Latin America are cited along the way.)
The apex of state expenditure on social infrastructure and social services in Iraq lasts from the post oil boom period (1973 onwards) to the beginning of the war with Iran (1980).
The author's point out that while the various regimes that took state control from 1958 to 1980 all pursued the goals of social egalitarianism, none of them were really "socialist." Indeed, no only did all of them eventually persecute the very active Iraqi Communist Party, they also operated under the principles of state capitalism. Thus we have state control of the oil industry, state provision of social services, Keynesian style state expenditure on major infrastructure projects -- which are then carried out by private means for the purposes of profit, and state sale of oil on the world market. This "mix" was similar to many third world countries with the difference that no many of them had Iraq's oil.
The authors also make an important point: when revenues, rather than emerging from the labor of the people, emerge instead from foreign aid (Egypt, pre-PDPA Afghanistan) or from the external sale of oil (Saudi Arabia, Iraq), the state has no reason to stay connected to the society. The state moves from being a immanent actor to transcending the needs and connections with the local.
Tough reading but the structural analysis is sharp.
July 21, 2020
This book is extremely dry and hard to get through. I was trying to find some interesting stories of Iraq and Baghdad - but the book is written in such a scholarly way that I couldn’t hardly understand it. If you like scholarly writing, you’ll love this book. Just be aware it’s written like a verbal timeline.
August 2, 2020
A useful and interesting overview, but also a sedative.
April 9, 2026
What a painful read; it’s dense and good-luck fighting to keep your eyes open. I think I would’ve enjoyed it more if I wasn’t being tested on it.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews