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

The destinies of Iraq and America will be entwined for the foreseeable future, due to U.S. incursion -- the latest in a long history of violent outside interventions. A country located directly over the world’s largest supply of crude oil, Iraq will continue to play an essential role in global economics and in Middle Eastern politics for many decades. Therefore, it is vitally important that Westerners have a clear understanding of this volatile, enigmatic land, its turbulent past and possibilities for the future.

In Understanding Iraq, noted Middle East authority William R. Polk presents the dramatic story of the “Land of Two Rivers” in one concise volume. This fascinating, in-depth study presents a comprehensive history of the events that shaped modern Iraq, while offering well-reasoned judgments on what we can expect there in years to come.

William R. Polk is the author of The U.S. and the Arab World and The Elusive Peace. He taught at Harvard and was professor of history at the University of Chicago. In 1961 he was a member of the Policy Planning Council of the State Department. Polk was past president of the Adlai Stevenson Institute of International Affairs. He has written articles on Iraq and the Middle East for Foreign Affairs, the Atlantic Monthly, the Washington Post, the Chicago Sun Times and the New York Review of Books.

“It is a well-written and important book with considerable relevance to the survival of Western democracy.” — Said Aburish, author of Saddam Hussein