The Modern History Of Iraq

Uses United Nations reports, Iraqi government records, and interviews with Iraqi educators, writers, and ordinary citizens to present a history of modern Iraq, from the construction of the modern state in 1920 through today.

The Modern History of Iraq places in historical perspective the crises and upheavals that continue to afflict the country. The book focuses on several important themes: the search for national identity in a multiethnic, multireligious state; the struggle to achieve economic development and modernity in a traditional society; and the political dynamics that have led to the current situation. Phebe Marr draws on published sources in Arabic and English, personal interviews, and frequent visits to the country to produce a remarkably lucid account of the emergence of contemporary Iraq. This edition features three new chapters that bring readers up to date on events since the U.S. invasion and give a clear picture of the political, social, economic, and ideological consequences of the recent upheaval. Marr provides an insightful overview of the current political scene—Iraq's new political elites; emerging figures, parties, constituencies, and support; and foreign influences. In the final chapter, Marr offers a uniquely penetrating analysis of Iraq's current social and economic affairs, including the decline of the middle class, refugee displacement, the economics of oil, the status of women and ethnic groups, and the rise of sectarianism.

The modern history of Iraq is punctuated by a series of successive and radical ruptures (coups d'etat, changes of regime, military adventures and foreign invasions) whose chronological markers are relatively easy to identify. Although researchers cannot ignore these ruptures, they should also be encouraged to establish links between the moments when the breaks occur and the longue durée, in order to gain a better understanding of the period.Combining a variety of different disciplinary and methodological perspectives, this collection of essays seeks to establish some new markers which will open fresh perspectives on the history of Iraq in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and suggest a narrative that fits into new paradigms. The book covers the various different periods of the modern state (the British occupation and mandate, the monarchy, the first revolutions and the decades of Ba'thist rule) through the lens of significant groups in Iraq society, including artists, film-makers, political and opposition groups, members of ethnic and religious groups, and tribes.

Previously published histories and primary source collections on the Iraqi experience tend to be topically focused or dedicated to presenting a top-down approach. By contrast, Stacy Holden's A Documentary History of Modern Iraq gives voice to ordinary Iraqis, clarifying the experience of the Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, Jews, and women over the past century. Through varied documents ranging from short stories to treaties, political speeches to memoirs, and newspaper articles to book excerpts, the work synthesizes previously marginalized perspectives of minorities and women with the voices of the political elite to provide an integrated picture of political change from the Ottoman Empire in 1903 to the end of the second Bush administration in 2008. Covering a broad range of topics, this bottom-up approach allows readers to fully immerse themselves in the lives of everyday Iraqis as they navigate regime shifts from the British to the Hashemite monarchy, the political upheaval of the Persian Gulf wars, and beyond. Brief introductions to each excerpt provide context and suggest questions for classroom discussion. This collection offers raw history, untainted and unfiltered by modern political framework and thought, representing a refreshing new approach to the study of Iraq.

The story of Iraq is one of resistance. In this groundbreaking study, Johan Franzen offers a contextual modern history of the country, its creation and its struggle for sovereignty. Iraq's contemporary history is a tale of a diverse people thrown together into a nation-state by imperialist statecraft. From the state's inception as a League of Nations mandate in the 1920s, through wars, coups and revolutions, Iraqis have always resisted foreign domination. But the country, propelled by the quest for power, intense national pride and a zeal for sovereignty, was catapulted along a trajectory of violence. On one side stood imperialism, seeking to control Iraq for its own ends. Facing it, Iraqis of varying nationalist groups tried to rid the country of foreign meddling and steer a course of self-determination. Pride and Power offers in-depth analysis of the most important events, decisions and processes that led Iraq down this path. Based on extensive research of primary sources, both Iraqi and Western, the book unravels the complexity of Iraq's political history. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the international relations of the Middle East or in understanding the rich history of Iraq, from its foundation to the present.

Third edition of Charles Tripp's authoritative history of Iraq.

Although Iraqi Jews saw themselves as Iraqi patriots, their community—which had existed in Iraq for more than 2,500 years—was displaced following the establishment of the state of Israel. New Babylonians chronicles the lives of these Jews, their urban Arab culture, and their hopes for a democratic nation-state. It studies their ideas about Judaism, Islam, secularism, modernity, and reform, focusing on Iraqi Jews who internalized narratives of Arab and Iraqi nationalisms and on those who turned to communism in the 1940s. As the book reveals, the ultimate displacement of this community was not the result of a perpetual persecution on the part of their Iraqi compatriots, but rather the outcome of misguided state policies during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Sadly, from a dominant mood of coexistence, friendship, and partnership, the impossibility of Arab-Jewish coexistence became the prevailing narrative in the region—and the dominant narrative we have come to know today.