The History Book Club discussion

This thread is focused on Iraq.

Since we are doing the Middle Eastern challenge; setting up one thread per Middle Eastern country is a good idea.

The Prince of the Marshes: And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq

by Rory Stewart (no photo)

Synopsis on Goodreads

In August 2003, at the age of thirty, Rory Stewart took a taxi from Jordan to Baghdad. A Farsi-speaking British diplomat, he was soon appointed deputy governor of Amarah and then Nasiriyah, provinces in the remote, impoverished marsh regions of southern Iraq. He spent the next eleven months negotiating hostage releases, holding elections, and splicing together some semblance of an infrastructure for a population of millions teetering on the brink of civil war.

The Prince of the Marshes tells the story of Stewart’s year. As a participant, he takes us inside the occupation and beyond the Green Zone, introducing us to a colorful cast of Iraqis and revealing the complexity and fragility of a society we struggle to understand. By turns funny and harrowing, moving and incisive, this book amounts to a unique portrait of heroism and the tragedy that intervention inevitably courts in the modern age.

Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East

by Robin Wright (no photo)

Synopsis:

A magnificent reckoning with the extraordinary changes engulfing the Middle East, by one of our greatest reporters on the region

Robin Wright first landed in the Middle East on October 6, 1973, the day the fourth Middle East war erupted. She has covered every country and most major crises in the region since then, through to the rise of Al-Qaeda and the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

For all the drama of the past, however, the region's most decisive traumas are unfolding today as the Middle East struggles to deal with trends that have already reshaped the rest of the world. And for all the darkness, there is also hope.

Some of the emerging trends give cause for greater optimism about the future of the Middle East than at any time since the first Arab-Israeli War in 1948.

Dreams and Shadows is an extraordinary tour d'horizon of the new Middle East, with on-the-ground reportage of the ideas and movements driving change across the region-and the obstacles they confront.

Through the powerful storytelling for which the author is famous, Dreams and Shadows ties together the players and events in Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Morocco, Turkey, the Gulf states, and the Palestinian territories into a coherent vision of what lies ahead.

A marvelous field report from the center of the storm, the book is animated by the characters whose stories give the region's transformation its human immediacy and urgency. It is also rich with the history that brought us to this point. It is a masterpiece of the reporter's art and a work of profound and enduring insight.

The Thistle and the Drone: How America's War on Terror Became a Global War on Tribal Islam

Published by the Brookings Institute Press

by Akbar Ahmed

Synopsis:

In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the United States declared war on terrorism. More than ten years later, the results are decidedly mixed. Here world-renowned author, diplomat, and scholar Akbar Ahmed reveals an important yet largely ignored result of this war: in many nations it has exacerbated the already broken relationship between central governments and the largely rural Muslim tribal societies on the peripheries of both Muslim and non-Muslim nations. The center and the periphery are engaged in a mutually destructive civil war across the globe, a conflict that has been intensified by the war on terror.

Conflicts between governments and tribal societies predate the war on terror in many regions, from South Asia to the Middle East to North Africa, pitting those in the centers of power against those who live in the outlying provinces. Akbar Ahmed's unique study demonstrates that this conflict between the center and the periphery has entered a new and dangerous stage with U.S. involvement after 9/11 and the deployment of drones, in the hunt for al Qaeda, threatening the very existence of many tribal societies.

American firepower and its vast anti-terror network have turned the war on terror into a global war on tribal Islam. And too often the victims are innocent children at school, women in their homes, workers simply trying to earn a living, and worshipers in their mosques. Battered by military attacks or drone strikes one day and suicide bombers the next, the tribes bemoan, "Every day is like 9/11 for us."

In "The Thistle and the Drone," the third volume in Ahmed's groundbreaking trilogy examining relations between America and the Muslim world, the author draws on forty case studies representing the global span of Islam to demonstrate how the U.S. has become involved directly or indirectly in each of these societies. The study provides the social and historical context necessary to understand how both central governments and tribal societies have become embroiled in America's war. Beginning with Waziristan and expanding to societies in Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and elsewhere, Ahmed offers a fresh approach to the conflicts studied and presents an unprecedented paradigm for understanding and winning the war on terror.

C-Span at American University where author is a professor:

American University professor Akbar Ahmed talked about his book, The Thistle and the Drone: How America’s War on Terror Became a Global War on Tribal Islam. He also talked about the debate over the use of drones by the Obama administration. This interview, recorded at American University in Washington, DC, was part of Book TV’s College Series.

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/31...

Here is a little fun - history (true story) told through a children's story:

Soldier Bear

by Bibi Dumon Tak

Synopsis:

Winner of the 2012 Batchelder Award

Based on a real series of events that happened during World War II, Soldier Bear tells the story of an orphaned bear cub adopted by a group of Polish soldiers in Iran.

The soldiers raise the bear and eventually enlist him as a soldier to ensure that he stays with the company.

He travels with them from Iran to Italy, and then on to Scotland.

Voytek's mischief gets him into trouble along with way, but he also provides some unexpected encouragement for the soldiers amidst the reality of war:

Voytek learns to carry bombs for the company, saves the camp from a spy, and keeps them constantly entertained with his antics.

Always powerful and surprising, Bibi Dumon Tak's story offers readers a glimpse at this fascinating piece of history.

Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia

by Michael Korda (no photo)

Synopsis:

T.E. Lawrence (1888-1935) first won fame for his writings and his participation in the British-sponsored Arab Revolt of WWI, but the adventurer known even in his day as "Lawrence of Arabia" is remembered today mostly as the subject of the 1962 film masterpiece based on his life. This splendid page-turner revitalizes this protean, enigmatic adventurer. That this colorful British scholar/Middle East warrior deserves a better fate is demonstrated amply in Michael Kordas' authoritative 784-page biography. Exciting, well-written, and relevant.

Arrows of the Night: Ahmad Chalabi's Long Journey to Triumph in Iraq

by Richard Bonin

Synopsis:

In 1958, Ahmad Chalabi’s wealthy Shiite family was exiled from Iraq after a revolution that ultimately put Saddam Hussein in power. The young Chalabi devoted his life to restoring his family to prominence. His first coup attempt was in 1963 at age nineteen, while on a school break from MIT. His next was aided by Iranian intelligence. But as the years passed and Saddam stayed in power, Chalabi made an audacious decision: he needed the support of both Iran and its powerful archenemy, the United States.

Drawing on unparalleled access to Chalabi, Bonin traces the exile’s ingenious efforts to stoke a desire for Iraqi regime change in the U.S. He narrates Chalabi’s ill-fated engage­ment with the CIA and his later focus on neoconservative policy makers who rose to power under George W. Bush. As a result, from day two of the Bush presidency, the push for a new Iraq was on, with the intent to install Ahmad Chalabi as overseer of U.S. interests in the Middle East. The outcome was perhaps the biggest foreign policy disaster in our history and a triumphant end to Chalabi’s forty-five-year quest.

Today, as we prepare to withdraw our troops from Iraq, Arrows of the Night is full of shocking revelations about how we got there, including the true story of Chalabi’s relation­ship with Iran. This page-turner, with its definitive account of the war, irrevocably alters a story we thought we knew.

Can I suggest books by Kanan Makiya to this thread? I haven't read his books myself, but "Republic of Fear" I think is the best known.

by Kanan Makiya

Thanks for the addition, Karen.

I recently read by . Packer is a friend of Makiya and discusses him extensively in the book. The book is an outstanding recap of the first year of the Iraq war and the connection between the neoconservative ideas that led to the war and the actions taken by the US during that first year.

Stuart, thanks so much for adding your thoughts. Good job with the citation , but make sure to include the author hyperlink in addition to the photo.

by George Packer

Thanks!

Dang I was so close on my first one.

:-). You can always practice on the mechanics of the board thread, ask a moderator, or use the preview button. We are here to help. Once you get it down its a snap.

Thanks Stuart and Karen. Thanks Alisa for assisting Stuart. Stuart, Alisa is correct - it is really easy once you get the hang of it.

#1. Here's my first contribution in this challenge. This is a brilliantly written book, that centers around the Pinnacle Rock formation in the California desert and the strange happenings there in the 19th, 20th and 21st century. Jas Matharu is the son of Sikh Indian immigrants. He and his jewish wife, Lisa, have an autistic son who disappears in the desert. One of the connected characters is an Iragi 14 year old girl whose father is assassinated in Iraq during the outbreak of the war. Her father is a history professor whose angry neighbor turns him over to the Americans who come and raid his home searching for weapons, find none and haul him off for questioning. Then after he returns home, he walks out one night and is mysteriously killed. She and her brother are shipped off to live in Riverside California with her Mother's brother, Uncle Hafiz. Uncle Hafiz accepts a job to participate in US military war games in the desert near the pinnacle rocks. Laila has already experienced the reality of the Iraqi war and now must be part of a bizarre role play in the desert to help military men know what to expect. I could not put this book down.

FICTION

Gods Without MenHari Kunzru

Another book on Iraq I came across (through the Orwell Prize's goodread page) is this one:

by Patrick Cockburn

Hello Sherry - congrats on finishing your book. I think you made a very good effort with the citation but more practice is in order.

First, since we are a non fiction club basically we must note that the book your are telling us about is a novel - a book of FICTION.

There is always the Mechanics of the Board thread where you can get some more help.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...

Please edit message 16 and place the entire citation at the bottom of the comment box. You can just type normally the names of the book and author and cite them below like this:

FICTION

by Hari Kunzru

Karen wrote: "Another book on Iraq I came across (through the Orwell Prize's goodread page) is this one:

by Patrick Cockburn"

Thank you Karen - good add and citation - although sometimes I add (no photo) after the author's name in linkable text indicating that there is no author's photo and I did not forget to add it.

Bentley wrote: "Hello Sherry - congrats on finishing your book. I think you made a very good effort with the citation but more practice is in order.

First, since we are a non fiction club basically we must note ..."

Thanks Bentley, I must admit I am a bit confused. Is this where i should post books that would go in the middle east challenge -- or do I do that on the specific middle east site.? I will edit.

Sherry

I think you are confused - this is the Iraq thread. You should have set up a shelf for the books in the challenge. And when you get done with them you make sure to say that you have read them and make sure they are added to that shelf.

I just checked to see if you have found your thread and you have - here it is:

http://www.goodreads.com/user_challen...

Have you completed any of your middle eastern books? If you have, they are not on your shelf and marked read - (the shelf you placed as your challenge shelf).

If you like to talk with others about your books that you have completed or about to read - you can also post on the Book Safari thread - this is the link:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

All of the links to the various countries are listed under the text for the challenge itself. And you can post in the country of your choice but the post should be on topic for that thread. You are now posting on the Iraq thread. Are you reading a book about or set in Iraq.

I hope this helps you.

Bentley wrote: "I think you are confused - this is the Iraq thread. You should have set up a shelf for the books in the challenge. And when you get done with them you make sure to say that you have read them and..."
It has a very good section on Iraq -- though it is fiction.

I will go to the other thread. I get how this works. Thanks for your patience.

It is absolutely no problem. Glad to help.

Happy to add, Libby! Another book I heard about is "Sand Queen" by Helen Benedict, it's a novel, based on real-life stories, if I understood correctly, about women in war.





by
Helen Benedict

Cobra II

Michael R. Gordon and Lt. General Bernard Trainor (no photo nor link)

Synopsis:

Cobra II covers the 2nd Iraqi war from the planning of the war, up to shortly after the major objectives were achieved with the fall of Baghdad and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. It briefly describes in the final two chapters the descent into chaos, but that's not the intent of the book. It truly does just cover the American invasion plans (named Cobra II), from planning to execution.

Roughly the first third of the book describes the planning, including the constant harassment by the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld urging smaller and smaller troops. Rumsfeld believed the military had become bloated and timid, desiring to achieve it's goals with unnecessary overwhelming force, instead of smaller, faster, and more precise forces, and essentially hounded Gen. Tommy Franks to scale the deployment to as minimal as possible to quickly thrust into Baghdad, capture oil facilities, and topple Saddam Hussein, with almost no thought to what would happen post-topple. Most of the rest of the book describes the actual invasion itself, with our troops evolving strategies (sometimes by luck when in one instance, tanks suffered less damage due to troops sticking water bladders, duffle bags, and misc. gear which unexpectedly helped shield the tank from RPGs). Yet it also discusses the failure of the upper echelon leaders to not adapt to the reality of the more serious threat not being the Iraqi regular army and the Republican Guard, but instead, the more guerrilla tactics of the Fedayeen, who wore no uniforms, attacked by RPGs and guns instead of tanks and artillery, and who started attacking the troops early in the war.

One section describes what Saddam Hussein was thinking, his rationale for defending Iraq, his delusion on why America stopped attacking in the first Gulf War, his stance on Weapons of Mass Destruction (which he knew was destroyed, but he wanted some doubt). It also describes his greatest fear, which oddly enough, wasn't America.

In the epilogue, Gen Trainor and Gordon describe what went wrong, which wasn't just too few troops to win the peace, but also change in leadership, drawing down troops, wishful thinking, cancelling elections when the winner wasn't who was desired, and the disbanding of the army which flooded the nation with newly unemployed and upset now-ex-soldiers.

Thank you Libby and Marc.

Such a shame - tit for tat in a country that has endured so much already.

This is so sad - Sunni against Shia - they are causing their own bloodshed.

Yes, how do they break that cycle - their religious leaders have to step forward and stop the violence. They have to give them permission to not continue this sort of thing and that it is wrong in the eyes of their own religion. Otherwise it seems to be a badge of honor to continue this bloodshed which is meaningless.

that battle has been going on for over a thousand years, pretty much since the prophet died, basically over who would succeed him. Of course, theirs isn't the only religion with factions that have fought each other. Think of the Catholic vs. Greek Orthodox or even Catholic v Protestant. At some point, I'm gonna start digging into that split between Rome and Byzantine...

Well Marc that is basically true about Byzantium, the Roman Empire, and the Crusades (smile) and maybe even the Protestant Reformation. But these petty squabbles/and religious zealotry are still not going on now. Most have discovered even in Northern Ireland that this sectarian bloodshed only does one thing - kill people. In the Middle East - the Arabs are against the Jews and even among themselves they are against each other - the Sunni against the Shia - at one point it has to stop.

Pathetic !

Very true Raayna - just killing innocent people is senseless even if it has gone on for a thousand years.

Things can always change - it is just a matter of choice.

Very true Marc - one never knows what the future holds but let us hope someone learns from history.

I read one book about the roots of the Shia/Sunni split in Islam which I found really good, even entertaining: "After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam" by Lesley Hazleton. I couldn't see that it had been mentioned in this topic?

It tells the story of the intrigues and politics of the people closest to Mohammad himself; his wifes, his son-in-law, his father-in-law, the different clans which had to struggle for power and influence in the new and expanding empire, shortly after their prophet's death. The author has read early islamic sources and probably modern ones as well, plus I don't know how much she adds from her own account, but anyway, the result is very readable and makes the history of the split both easily accessible and easy to remember. The book can be put in Saudi-Arabia, Iran or Iraq shelf (actually, I think also Syria and/or Lebanon, since those countries are very deeply affected by the shia/sunni split as well) as one choses.

(Check other people's reviews to see about the auhtor's possible bias. I found it a bit of a pro-shia narrative, but since I'm not a muslim it really doesn't matter to me. Everything is interpretation anyway. Still is a good book.)

by Lesley Hazleton

Thanks Karen for the add and your honest assessment of the book and potential biases. It is always good for the reader to know ahead of time.

Thanks Libby for the adds.

To clarify: What I mean by "pro-shia narrative" is that much of the book is about the long-suffering Ali, who the Shias think was the rightful heir of Mohammad, but who had to wait for most his life before he became the fourth khalif in the Sunni tradition. It's pro-shia in a back-in-the-days political (and perhaps theological) sense, but it doesn't mean that the book in any way picks our current Shia over Sunni Islam the way the different branches have developed, it doesn't chose sides that way.

To any reader who's accustomed to taking all sources with at least one pinch of salt, it is one hundred per cent unproblematic. The background for the main split in Islam is explained in a way that anyone can understand and follow, is what I mean.

Thanks Karen for the additional details - knowing the source and the background of the author usually takes care of that and folks - like you said can read each book and decide for themselves. Thank you for adding additional clarification.

Such a shame - so many needless deaths.

by Joseph McElroy
Note: Fiction

Synopsis:
The Iraq War, two divers, a California family, and within that family an intimacy that open the larger stories more deeply still. Cannonball continues in McElroy's tradition of intricately woven story lines and extreme care regarding the placement of each and every word. A novel where the sentences matter as much as the overall story.

My review:

“O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive!”
-Walter Scott

Mysterious Scrolls surfacing through wells underneath the Middle Eastern deserts, a talented three hundred and some pounds Mongol Manchurian who makes no splash cannonball dives formed the labyrinthine sea of former diver Zach’s consciousness. The scrolls, “a weapon in the war”, was no less phenomenal than the borderline Chinese named Umo who mysteriously appeared then disappeared in Saddam Hussein’s palace. Joseph McElroy’s signature flow of consciousness writing features Zach’s coming of age and loss of innocence in parallel with the U.S.’s involvement in the Iraq war. Zach’s thoughts meander from when he formed a friendship with the large Umo to recruit him for his coach father’s team to when he became a photographer manipulated by the U.S. government “to be a spy and not know it-witness, but to what?” in a plot to sway public opinion in the war. Unlike the scrolls “arriving then with such long-range accuracy of time and place”, in the sea of Zach’s consciousness, time and place flows back and forth from the young Zach’s high school pool to Saddam’s palace pool of the adult Zach’s memory.

The repeating theme is Zach’s gullibility, limited perception, and eventual insight. When he first encountered the sumo wrestler-like Umo at the high school’s pool, he and his peers cringed at the 300 plus pound figure getting ready to dive but was surprised at the elegant result.

“a cannonball to maybe blast us all out this time, but no: for suddenly the diver, that human bulk, its arms now at its sides, axled a great diameter impossibly greater than the diver himself and wheeled over into a layout somersault and-a-half, not tuck, not even jackknife-pike position but layout more distinguished than any stunt for which mysteriously (if you measure it) there could not have been time but, ...—and no less a cannonball, it came to me—hands, head, shoulders, belly, hips into the water—for no real splash at all...”

After high school when he enlists in the Army, Zach became a photographer who was planted in Saddam Hussein’s pool, “...--and where eez division between what-has-been and what-weel-be?--’a shout in the meedle of the air, eh,’ the Russian adds (not lost on me): and water archaeologist had been drawn to the foundations of this palace as a sinkhole for the net of horizontal wells ‘like secret map across land before even Scrolls were found.’ “







He became caught in the middle of an explosion that looked like it killed his pal Umo, who for some reason followed him to Iraq. During the mayhem a piece of a scroll was handed to Zach from a chaplain. The controversial piece of the Scrolls that will be an alternative to the Gospel and may affect the predominantly Christian public opinion in the U.S.. The story then takes a conspiracy turn of McElroy’s noir flavor as pieces of fact reveal themselves and characters reveal their motives. The web of conspiracy stretched from Zach’s coach father to mysterious figures in connection with the U.S. government. The flow of life giving ancient water turned into a treacherous web from beyond “what-has-been” at Zach’s high school pool to “what-weel-be” in the U.S./Middle East relations.

Although the 300 lb. human cannonball created no explosion, the “Scrolls explosion” spread from the horizontal wells, as it proves that the “American Jesus” approves the ways of “fighter and economist, private entrepreneurials, food-fasting and possibly fast-fooding, sensible take on capital punishment when appropriate, a very early, matching-grant Jesus where if you’re not willing to work forget about it, sloth violates brotherly love...” The Jesus in the newly discovered Scroll is a “virtual CEO.” After the explosion, Zach was driven to investigate the bombing that led to his friend’s death. The plot follows a detective novel’s noir twist as lives were threatened, enemies reveal themselves, and people are not who they appear to be. Even Zach’s dead pal Umo showed up unexpectedly. “To my mind Jesus didn’t have one particular pal, though my candidate was...Lazarus...” Like Lazarus of Bethel, Umo came back from the dead but didn’t really die, only doubled like “the beggar with the sores and the rich man named something.”

After going through satirical hearings where the truth is distorted and the root of the Scrolls became evident to Zach, “noticing a copy of the Scrolls propped open with a mug and a knife between two separate trays”, he realized that the “transaction is done. What is it they trust?” As Alan Greenspan revealed in his memoir, “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.”

Thank you Aloha

Reclaiming Iraq: The 1920 Revolution and the Founding of the Modern State

by Abbas K Kadhim (no photo)

Synopsis:

While some scholars would argue that there was no "Iraq" before King Faysal's coronation in 1921, Iraqi history spans fourteen centuries of tribal communities that endured continual occupation in their historic homeland, including Mongol invasions in the thirteenth century and subsequent Ottoman and British invasions. An Iraqi identity was established long before the League of Nations defined the nation-state of Iraq in 1932. Drawing on neglected primary sources and other crucial accounts, including memoirs and correspondence, Reclaiming Iraq puts the 1920 revolt against British occupation in a new light--one that emphasizes the role of rural fighters between June and November of that year.

While most accounts of the revolution have been shaped by the British administration and successive Iraqi governments, Abbas Kadhim sets out to explore the reality that the intelligentsia of Baghdad and other cities in the region played an ideological role but did not join in the fighting. His history depicts a situation we see even today in conflicts in the Middle East, where most military engagement is undertaken by rural tribes that have no central base of power. In the study of the modern Iraqi state, Kadhim argues, Faysal's coronation has detracted from the more significant, earlier achievements of local attempts at self-rule. With clarity and insight, this work offers an alternative perspective on the dawn of modern Iraq.

An upcoming book:
Release date: May 29, 2014

Baghdad: City of Peace, City of Blood

by Justin Marozzi

Synopsis:

Over thirteen centuries, Baghdad has enjoyed both cultural and commercial pre-eminence, boasting artistic and intellectual sophistication and an economy once the envy of the world. It was here, in the time of the Caliphs, that the Thousand and One Nights were set. Yet it has also been a city of great hardships, beset by epidemics, famines, floods, and numerous foreign invasions which have brought terrible bloodshed. This is the history of its storytellers and its tyrants, of its philosophers and conquerors.

Here, in the first new history of Baghdad in nearly 80 years, Justin Marozzi brings to life the whole tumultuous history of what was once the greatest capital on earth.

Another:
Release date: May 12, 2014

Enemy on the Euphrates: The British Occupation of Iraq and the Great Arab Revolt 1914-1921

by Ian Rutledge (no photo)

Synopsis:

Between July 1920 and February 1921, in the territory known as Mesopotamia - now the modern state of Iraq - an Arab uprising came perilously close to inflicting a shattering defeat upon the British Empire. A huge peasant army surrounded and besieged British garrisons with sand-bagged entrenchments; British columns and armoured trains were ambushed and destroyed; and well-armed British gunboats were sunk or captured.

The quest for oil was central to Britain's Middle East policy during the First World War and was one of the principal reasons for its continuing occupation of Iraq. However, with around 131,000 Arabs in arms at one stage of the conflict, the British were very nearly driven out. Only a massive infusion of Indian troops and the widespread use of aircraft prevented a total rout.

Enemy on the Euphrates is the definitive account of the first British occupation of Iraq and the revolt against it in 1920. Using a wealth of primary sources, Ian Rutledge brings central players such as Winston Churchill, Arnold Wilson, T.E. Lawrence, Gertrude Bell and Sir Mark Sykes vividly to life in this gripping account.

by David Finkel.

by David Finkel.

by Thomas E. Ricks.

by Thomas E. Ricks.

FIASCO is great. I personally witnessed much of the fallout from the actions taken in this book. I hope all read it.

I haven't seen The Surge yet, Libby. Unfortunately, I don't get Netflix. I'm a library lover for books and movies.

I agree about Fiasco, Jack. It's a must read for anyone interested in the Iraq War 2.

by Thomas E. Ricks