Franzen, Johan, Pride And Power, A Modern History Of Iraq, Hurst & Company, 2020
Pride And Power, A Modern History Of Iraq by Johan Franzen is a very dense history of Iraq from the Ottoman period to the present. It is chock full of detail after detail. There are some new bits of information relayed but the last third of the book that starts with the Gulf War falters. Its version of the 2003 invasion is especially disappointing making it an uneven book.
Morad, Tamar, Shasha, Deniis, and Shasha, Robert, Edited by, Iraq’s Last Jews, Stories of Daily Life, Upheaval, and Escape from Modern Babylon, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008
Iraq’s Last Jews, Stories of Daily Life, Upheaval, and Escape from Modern Babylon is made up of a number of interviews with Iraqi Jews about their experiences. Most had nostalgic views of growing up in Iraq but then things changed starting in 1948 when Israel was created leading to years of persecution by the government. Most left in 1950, but the book contains stories of people who stayed until the 1970s which is rare in histories. Iraq’s Last Jews is a welcome addition to the cannon because of the range of first-hand accounts it includes.
Astarjian, Henry, The Struggle For Kirkuk, The Rise Of Hussein, Oil, And The Death Of Tolerance In Iraq, Westport London: Praeger Security International, 2007
The title of this book is very misleading. It would have you believe it’s about Saddam Hussein, sectarianism and Kirkuk when it is actually about the life of the author Henry Astarjian growing up as an Armenian in Kirkuk and Baghdad under the Iraqi monarchy and General Qasim government. The author mixes his personal recollections of his family, friends and where he lived along with the history of the times such as the 1958 coup that ended the monarchy. It’s good to see another Iraqi voice published in English doubly so since it’s from an Armenian perspective, a group you hardly hear about.
Fernea, Robert & Louis, Wm. Roger, The Iraqi Revolution Of 1958, The Old Social Classes Revisited, London, New York: I.B. Tauris, 1991
Hanna Batatu’s The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq is one of the most famous and thorough books on Iraqi History. It covers the emergence of the Iraqi state and society from British colonialism to the 1960s. This release The Iraqi Revolution Of 1958, The Old Social Classes Revisited came out of a conference in 1991 where papers were submitted to discuss what led to the 1958 coup in Iraq and its aftermath using Batatu’s work as the basis for their analysis. It is remarkable because every chapter is interesting something that is usually challenging to find in an anthology. The authors cover a variety of issues from British, American and Soviet policy towards the monarchy before its overthrow to the coup’s connections to other political movements in the Middle East to tribes and the development of Iraqi politics and culture. Some are straight forward histories while others are more theoretical. Each provides a very interesting look at how Iraq was transformed during this important period.
De Gaury, Gerald, Three Kings In Baghdad, The Tragedy Of Iraq’s Monarchy, London, New York: I.B. Tauris, 2008
Gerald De Gaury had a long and friendly relationship with the Iraqi monarchy. He first entered Iraq in 1924 as an officer assigned to the Levies who acted as a local security force for the British. That’s when he met King Faisal. He later became an intelligence officer for the Royal Air Force in Iraq. After a coup in 1941 he returned to the country to become an aide to the Regent. He knew all of the kings of Iraq, most of the royal family and many of the leading politicians. Since he was an English colonial officer and only associated with the Iraqi elite he defended them throughout his book, Three Kings In Baghdad, The Tragedy Of Iraq’s Monarchy, and lamented their overthrow in a military takeover in 1958.
Khadduri, Majid, Republican ‘Iraq, A Study in ‘Iraqi Politics since the Revolution of 1958, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1969
Majid Khadduri was one of the first prominent Iraqi historians writing in English. He was born in Iraq and then came to work at Johns Hopkins University. Starting with his 1960 Independent Iraq he published books on the country covering the monarchy up to the Gulf War. His early histories were indispensable because he had access to many of the people involved in events. Republican ‘Iraq, A Study in ‘Iraqi Politics since the Revolution of 1958 covers the “revolutionary regimes” of General Qasim, the Baath and the Arif brothers that ruled from 1958 to 1968. Khadduri’s thesis was that the military stepped into politics to overthrow the old regime and created an autocratic form of government.
Haseeb, K., The National Income of Iraq 1953-1961, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1964
The National Income Of Iraq 1953-1961 is a statistical study of Iraq’s economy from the end of the monarchy to the start of the General Qasim government. The book is full of numbers and charts and spends a chapter on each sector of the economy explaining how the figures were determined. It makes for very dry reading that only in depth researchers would be interested in it.
Farouk-Sluglett, Marion and Sluglett, Peter, Iraq Since 1958, From Revolution To Dictatorship, New York: I.B. Tauris, 2003
Iraq Since 1958, From Revolution To Dictatorship by Marion Farouk-Sluglett and Peter Sluglett is one of the seminal Iraqi History books in English. It covers the history of Iraq from the monarchy to Saddam Hussein’s rule in the 1990s. The Slugletts main focus is on the governments that came after the 1958 coup and how they struggled to stay in power because they lacked a popular base.
Gallman, Waldemar, Iraq Under General Nuri, My Recollections of Nuri al-Said, 1954-1958, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1964
Iraq Under General Nuri, My Recollections of Nuri al-said, 1954-1958 was written by Waldemar Gallman who was the United States Ambassador to Iraq. The book covers the last years of Nuri al-Said who was the prime minister of Iraq thirteen times and a brief overview of the 1958 coup that overthrew his government and led to his death. Gallman has nothing but praise for Said. It’s interesting because this came at the height of the Cold War when America said it was fighting for freedom against the spread of Communism. Said didn’t really believe in democracy however and used authoritarian methods to rule and yet the ambassador thought that was fine because he considered Said a strong leader and a friend of Washington’s.
Al-Ali, Nadje Sadig, Iraqi Women, Untold Stories from 1948 to the Present, London & New York: Zed Books, 2007
As author Nadje Al-Ali wrote in her conclusion Iraqi Women, Untold Stories from 1948 to the Present was an attempt to create a people’s history of Iraq through the eyes of the country’s women. This was in contrast to traditional histories that focus upon the elite and politicians. She based her book upon interviews mostly with women in the diaspora living in several different countries such as America, Jordan and England along with some who were living in Iraq. She asked them to tell their stories about Iraq’s past and present from the monarchy to the U.S. occupation. She found that women’s social class, their political leanings, and whether they lived in the cities or in the country determined their experiences and how they remembered Iraq.
Alnasrawi, Abbas, Iraq’s Burdens, Oil, Sanctions, and Underdevelopment, Westport London: Greenwood Press, 2002
Iraq’s Burdens, Oil, Sanctions, and Underdevelopment by Abbas Alnasrawi is a very good academic book about the impact of oil and the 1990s United Nations sanctions upon Iraq. It’s a very short read but it packs some real insights into how Iraq developed. The one drawback is that the author repeats himself quite often. His thesis was that in the 1950s the Iraqi government had the opportunity to use its vast oil wealth to really grow its economy. Instead it became dependent upon oil which led to the total demise of the nation when wars and sanctions cut off this most important industry.
Schmidt, Dana Adams, Journey Among Brave Men, Travels in Kurdistan, New York: Grove Press, 2018
Journey Among Brave Men, Travels in Kurdistan was written by New York Times reporter Dana Adams Schmidt. It was based upon the author’s three month trip into Iraqi Kurdistan in 1962 with follow up visits in 1963. While there Schmidt got to interview the Kurdish leader Mullah Mustafa Barzani several times and was impressed by his determination while also noting some of his faults. Schmidt was taken in by his Kurdish guests and gushed about their hospitality and culture. That led him to exaggerate their fighting prowess sometimes, but again remarked on how the struggle with the Iraqi government was stalemated although the author hoped that Barzani would eventually prevail.
Haj, Samira, The Making of Iraq 1900-1963, Capital, Power and Ideology, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1997
The Making of Iraq 1900-1963, Capital, Power and Ideology is a detailed academic book on how the development of Iraq’s economy under the Ottomans and then the British created a political system that would eventually bring down both the monarchy and General Abd al-Karim Qasim’s government. The author Samira Haj argues that the agriculture system dominated by large estates distorted the economy and limited the government which created conditions for a coup in 1958 led by General Qasim. The forces that backed him would eventually split over ideology and class and led to his demise as well. Haj emphasizes that internal dynamics rather than foreign influence or international capitalism led to these changes
Simon, Reeva Spector, Iraq Between the Two World Wars, The Militarist Origins of Tyranny, New York, Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press, 2004
Iraq Between The Two World Wars, The Militarist Origins of Tyranny by Reeva Spector Simon is a very well written and interesting book about how Germany influenced Iraq, shaped its concept of pan-Arabism and led to the 1941 Anglo-Iraq War. Simon argues the Iraqi military’s ideas on how to unify Iraq and create an Arab federation had their origins in the German model of nationalism and militarism, which they had initially learned about during the Ottoman period. This led the army to enter politics and overthrow governments in coups and eventually side with the Axis during World War II. Simon believes that these ideas continued afterward leading to the end of the monarchy and eventually Saddam Hussein. That last part is the only crack in the author’s argument.
Sipos, Milos and Cooper, Tom, Wings of Iraq, Volume 1: The Iraqi Air Force, 1931-1970, Warwick: Helion & Company Limited, 2020
Wings of Iraq is the first of a two part series on the history of the Iraqi Air Force. Iraq had one of the largest and most combat experienced air wings in the Arab world having taken part in several wars, coups and uprisings. The authors Milos Sipos and Tom Cooper weave together Iraqi history with the development of the force since its use was always wrapped up in politics. Their view is that the Iraqi Air Force constantly grew from the 1920s to the 1970s but with no real strategy behind it.
Jabar, Faleh, The Shi’ite Movement in Iraq, London: SAQI, 2003
Faleh Jabar was one of the top Iraqi scholars on his home country. He was inspired to write The Shi’ite Movement in Iraq because of the dearth of research on Shiite activism outside of Iran. His main influence was Hanna Batatu’s intense research that led to his The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq. The Shi’ite Movement in Iraq laid out the background that led to the emergence of Shiite reform and revolutionary groups, their leadership, their philosophy, and how they changed over time from the 1950s to the 1990s. Jabar’s thesis was that these parties were beset by divisions, mistakes, and defeats.
Edmund Ghareeb’s The Kurdish Question In Iraq is a bit of an oddity. On the one hand it takes much of what the Baath gove...
