William R. Polk - Understanding Iraq: The Whole Sweep of Iraqi History, from Genghis Khan's Mongols to the Ottoman Turks to the British Mandate to the American Occupation

This brief but comprehensive backgrounder meets the demand for a full yet accessible historical long view of Iraq as it relates to the 2003 American invasion. William R. Polk, a Middle East scholar who has taught at Harvard and the University of Chicago, has also been associated with the State Department. He has prepared what amounts to five briefing papers on ancient, modern, and contemporary Iraq (or "American Iraq," an era he sees as beginning in 1990). Iraq comes across as a civilization bound up in its history, where long-ago events still inform the more recent. In his final chapter, Polk assesses the prospects for change and democracy in the new Iraq, noting: "Over its long history, the one group that has seldom 'owned' Iraq was its people." He assesses the record of both the Coalition and the interim government, pointing to troubling signs and missteps, and explains frankly just why oil is and will always be an enduring American interest. The reader comes away from Polk's book with a better understan

Key Information
Authors		William R. Polk
Nonfiction Category		History
Book Editions
		PaperbackReprint221March 01, 2006Perennial7.75"(h) x 5.25"(w) x 0.75"(d), 0.4 lbs.9780060764692