Saddam’s Iraq Revolution Or Reaction? was an anthology put together by the Committee Against Repression and For Democratic Rights In Iraq. It is part history and part diatribe against Saddam Hussein. Like any collection the chapters are up and down. The historical sections are good as well as the analysis of the development of the economy. That’s thanks to the inclusion of authors such as historians Marion and Peter Sluglett.
Moreh, Shmuel and Yehuda, Zvi, Edited by, Al-Farhud, The 1941 Pogrom in Iraq, The Hebrew University Magnes Press, 2010
Al-Farhud, The 1941 Pogrom in Iraq is one of the few books about the attack upon Baghdad’s Jews after the conclusion of the Anglo-Iraq War. It has many first-hand accounts of the violence which is the highlight of the collection. Like any anthology there are other chapters that are flawed. The major contribution of the collection is that it gives the background causes to the attacks and then the impact it had upon the community.
Dawisha, Adeed, Iraq, A Political History from Independence to Occupation, Princeton University Press, 2009
Adeed Dawisha’s Iraq, A Political History from Independence to Occupation attempts to trace the history of the formation of the Iraqi state and its political system. He begins with the British Mandate when Iraq was created up until the middle of the U.S. occupation. His main theme is that Iraqi democracy has always been flawed.
Bashkin, Orit, The Other Iraq, Pluralism and Culture in Hashemite Iraq, Stanford University Press, 2009
The Other Iraq, Pluralism and Culture in Hashemite Iraq by Orit Bashkin is about the role of intellectuals during the monarchy which lasted from 1920-1958. The author emersed himself in Iraqi books, poems, journals and reports from this period. Many histories have claimed there was no national identity which led to many of the country’s problems up to the present day. The author disputes that claiming Iraqi nationalism was established amongst the urban middle class and intellectuals.
El-Solh, Raghid, Britain’s 2 Wars With Iraq 1941 1991, Garnet Publishing Limited, 1996
Raghid El-Solh’s Britain’s 2 Wars With Iraq 1941 1991 is a tale of two halves. It covers the Anglo-Iraq War which was part of the larger World War 2 conflict as well as the Gulf War. The author argues that England has historically attempted to maintain the status quo in the Middle East which came into conflict with various Iraqi leaders. The coverage of first war is quite good while the section on the Gulf War reads like Saddam era propaganda.
Balian, Basil, Once Upon A Time In Iraq, Basil Balian, 2008
Basil Balian is an Iraqi-Armenian who grew up in Diyala and Baghdad under the monarchy. His autobiographical Once Upon A Time In Iraq is about his memories of his home in Iraq and then a short section on how he came to the U.S. and started a family there. It’s a quick and enjoyable read and provides another Iraqi voice too few of which are heard in the West.
Faught, C. Brad, Cairo 1921, Ten Days That Made the Middle East, Yale University Press, 2022
The 1921 Cairo conference held by British Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill helped create the modern Middle East. Borders were drawn, kings were installed, and a new policy of neo-colonialism was created. That’s what C. Brad Faught’s Cairo 1921, Ten Days That Made the Middle East focuses upon.
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.
Benjamen, Alda, Assyrians in Modern Iraq, Negotiating Political and Cultural Space, Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, New Delhi, Singapore: Cambridge University Press, 2022
Iraq is one of the most diverse countries in the Middle East and yet there are very few books about the different groups outside of the Kurds that make up the population. That means that Alda Benjamen’s Assyrians in Modern Iraq, Negotiating Political and Cultural Space is a welcomed addition to the canon. She focuses upon the struggle by Assyrians to achieve their rights within the country from the Ottoman period up to modern Iraq with most of the book focusing upon the 1950s-80s.
Rey, Matthieu, When Parliaments Ruled the Middle East, Iraq and Syria, 1946-63, Cairo New York: The American University in Cairo Press, 2022
Matthieu Rey in When Parliaments Ruled the Middle East, Iraq and Syria, 1946-63 doesn’t provide a completely convincing argument that parliamentary democracy became the basis of post-World War II politics in Iraq and Syria. Rey’s thesis is that during the end of the Ottoman period until the early 1960s a new elite emerged in Iraq and Syria that wanted Western style political reforms and pushed parliamentarianism as the way to achieve them. It expanded representation but also led to divisions which eventually ended the system. Rey does prove that parliamentarism persisted in both countries despite coups and would be autocrats. On the other hand he downplays many issues like corrupt elections, how assemblies lacked power and how there were never any substantive reforms. That’s why his book doesn’t completely pass the test.
Eisenstadt, Michael and Mathewson, Eric, Editors, U.S. Policy In Post-Saddam Iraq, Washington, DC: Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 2003
Before the 2003 invasion of Iraq the Washington Institute for Near East Policy realized the United States could learn a lot from the British time in the country starting in World War I. The Institute collected together a group of Iraq experts and had them write about the United Kingdom’s experience and then make suggestions for the Bush administration. The authors provided a good history and there were plenty of lessons for the U.S. to learn. As we all know the White House thought it had all the answers and carried out a costly and highly flawed occupation as a result.
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.
Hahn, Peter, Missions Accomplished? The United States and Iraq since World War I, New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012
When Americans talk about Iraq they usually only discuss the period from the 2003 invasion to the present. History Professor Peter Hahn tried to fill in that gap in knowledge with Missions Accomplished? The United States and Iraq since World War I by covering U.S.-Iraq relations from the latter’s founding in 1920 to the start of the Obama administration. His history of early relations is important because they are rarely mentioned. When he gets to the Iran-Iraq War the book repeats the conventional wisdom on how Washington dealt with Baghdad. The author isn’t partisan but is pro-government repeating how each administration approached Iraq. That leads to some major problems when it comes to topics such as weapons of mass destruction and the U.S. occupation of Iraq. It ends up undermining what Hahn accomplished in the first half of Missions Accomplished?
Bashkin, Orit, New Babylonians, A History Of Jews In Modern Iraq, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2012
New Babylonians, A History Of Jews In Modern Iraq by Orit Bashkin is an outstanding book about how Jews attempted to become citizens of Iraq and then how the state turned against them. She argues that Jews adopted Arab language, culture and the politics of the day. Things changed after World War II as the government and Arab nationalist groups began equating Jews with Zionism and persecuted the community leading to the majority to leave for Israel. Bashkin did a huge amount of research into Iraqi papers, journals and writers of the time which gives his book a great deal of depth as she covers territory that has not been discussed by others.
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.
Silverfarb, Daniel, Britain’s Informal Empire In The Middle East, A Case Study of Iraq 1929-1941, New York Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986
Daniel Silverfarb’s Britain’s Informal Empire In The Middle East, A Case Study of Iraq 1929-1941 is about how England tried indirect rule in Iraq from the 1920s-30s and failed which led to the 1941 Anglo-Iraq War. Britain agreed to Iraqi independence in 1932 hoping that it could preserve its interests. Instead several issues such as air bases, minorities, Arab nationalism, Kuwait, and the economy caused increasing tensions. Silverfarb presents a very detailed argument mostly based upon British government documents about how the UK's measures actually divided the two countries and led to war.
Al-Suwaydi, Tawfiq, My Memoirs, Half a Century of the History of Iraq and the Arab Cause, Boulder, London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2013
Tawfiq al-Suwaidi was one of Iraq’s first politicians agitating for Iraqi independence during the Ottoman period and then serving in the government under the British and monarchy. He was prime minister three times and advisor and foreign minister under other administrations. My Memoirs, Half a Century of the History of Iraq and the Arab Cause was his autobiography. Its main themes were the belief in British hegemony over Iraq, pan-Arabism, opposition to militarism, Communism, and Zionism, and how a small group of politicians ran the country. His book is important because it explains the views of the Iraqi elite who formed the country.
Shiblak, Abbas, Iraqi Jews, A History of Mass Exodus, London: SAQI, 2005
Abbas Shibak’s Iraqi Jews, A History of Mass Exodus is a short history of the Jewish migration from Iraq to Israel in the 1950s. The author believes the creation of Israel in 1948 and the Iraqi government’s wish to suppress forces pushing for democratic change created an environment of instability for Iraqi Jews that led them to leave their country. By 1953 almost the entire community was gone.
Salucci, Ilario, A People’s History Of Iraq, The Iraqi Communist Party, Workers’ Movements, and the Left 1924-2004, Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2005
Ilario Salucci wrote a very short and concise history of the Communists in Iraq. The Iraqi Communist Party (ICP) used to be the largest in the country, leading protests and being one of the main opposition groups. However it consistently undermined itself following Soviet doctrine and policy. The author documents how the Communists constantly subordinated themselves to other groups believing that a nationalist bourgeoise and capitalism had to develop before socialism could be established. The party therefore faced defeat after defeat at its own hands.
871 Zanj slave rebellion returned to Basra city Offered amnesty to residents and then massacred them Survivors hid in city for weeks a...
