العراق: تاريخ سياسي من الاستقلال إلى الاحتلال

by Adeed Dawisha, سامر طالب (Translator)

With each day that passed after the 2003 invasion, the United States seemed to sink deeper in the treacherous quicksand of Iraq's social discord, floundering in the face of deep ethno-sectarian divisions that have impeded the creation of a viable state and the molding of a unified Iraqi identity. Yet as Adeed Dawisha shows in this superb political history, the story of a fragile and socially fractured Iraq did not begin with the invasion--it is as old as Iraq itself.

Dawisha traces the history of the Iraqi state from its inception in 1921 following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and up to the present day. He demonstrates how from the very beginning Iraq's ruling elites sought to unify this ethnically diverse and politically explosive society by developing state governance, fostering democratic institutions, and forging a national identity. Dawisha, who was born and raised in Iraq, gives rare insight into this culturally rich but chronically divided nation, drawing on a wealth of Arabic and Western sources to describe the fortunes and calamities of a state that was assembled by the British in the wake of World War I and which today faces what may be the most serious threat to survival that it has ever known.

"Iraq" is required reading for anyone seeking to make sense of what's going on in Iraq today, and why it has been so difficult to create a viable government there.

Genres: History, Politics, Middle East

331 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 17, 2009

Reviews

[Christina Beck · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is very weird and unbalanced. It describes in meticulous, painstaking (emphasis on the "pain") detail Iraq during the monarchical period, and then zooms through the military coup, Baathist takeover, Saddam, and the U.S. invasion in 2003 at breakneck speed. One is left with a very thorough (too thorough) understanding of Iraq in the 20s and 30s, but almost nothing in the subsequent 70 years other than "it was bad".

Also, it is extraordinarily poorly edited. The only way I was able to stay interested enough to finish was by reading with a red pen in hand.

Given Iraq's place in human and Middle Eastern history, and the multiple incarnations the country has known over the past century, I'm sure that there's an excellent political history out there waiting. This is not it.

[Saman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very good book if you can get over the author occasional handjobs to the monarchy

[فلاح رحيم · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a comment on the political history of Iraq than a detailed discussion. The part on the monarchy is much more detailed and convincing than the parts on the disastrous series of dictatorships in the aftermath of 1958.

[Murtatha Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

In order to understand why Iraq is the way it is today, reading a book like this will help immensely. It explains the socioeconomic and religious composition of the country, as well as foreign relations in the 20th century. These details lend a guiding light to understand what led to Saddam Hussein's rise and how his take down has arguably been the single most destabilizing event to shake Iraq to its core since the Mongolian siege of Baghdad in 1258. What happened after the fall of Saddam has laid the foundation, or lack thereof (lol), of what Iraq is today. Furthermore, the history Iraq has a lot of similarities to the history of other Arab nations within the 20th century and helps the understanding of why the middle east is so unstable today.

[Andrew Daniels · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not that great
Lots of dumb stuff in it
Better books on Iraq: P. Marr, William Polk, Thabit Abdullah

[Faisal Jamal · Rating 3 out of 5]

عرض لتاريخ العراق السياسي الحديث مع تركيز على العراق في العهد الملكي

[Stan Murai · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book by Adeed Dawisha examines the political history of Iraq from its founding in 1921 to the post-2003 era of turmoil. Since the formation of the nation from the three Ottoman Empire provinces of Mosul, Baghdad, and Basra, the ruling elite of the country have faced the enormous challenges unifying an ethnically diverse and politically explosive society. The basic task of governing Iraq has always been building state governing structures, creating a national identity, and fostering 'democratic' institutions that would legitimize the state and its government in order to promote national consolidation. The author, a native of Iraq, provides unusual insight into the process that led to a resilient Iraq that lasted for over 80 years.
And yet with the fall of Saddam Husayn and the foreign occupation, Iraq was plunged into continuous a discord that threatened to unravel the nation. Some review of the history of Iraq from a source such as this book might have been a useful guide to prevent the errors of the occupation authorities as they attempted to bring about the same consolidation process experienced by the former monarchy, republican regime, and Baathist dictatorship.