Understanding Iraq: The Whole Sweep of Iraqi History, from Genghis Khan's Mongols to the Ottoman Turks to the British Mandate to the Ameri

This is the book I had been looking for. Too may histories of this region are a catalog of battles and clashes of religions and ethnic groups which I have never heard of. As a "whole sweep" in one little book, it will not please purists. It avoids the catalog, to give us what we need to know to make sense of Iraq today. The book gets even more interesting when Polk gives the modern day history. For instance, we learn about the rise of Saddam H. how and why Kuwait was set up. [...] The book is designed to inform, not to mobilize. [...]

William R. Polk's 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 is an attempt to provide the reader with a comprehensive treatment of Iraqi history given the prominence of this country on the contemporary geopolitical landscape. It is his contention that one must obtain a working knowledge of the history of the people, their culture and religion, in order to fully appreciate the current state of affairs. He treats the subject with great care reaching back over the millennia into the very early stages of civilization in the Fertile Crescent. Understanding these deep roots is essential for Polk's thesis. One aspect of the book that raises concern is the lack of footnotes throughout the text as a whole. It is true that when Polk offers a strong statement often in relation to US policy, there is an asterisk with a source in the footnote. He does not expect the reader to consume his perspective based upon his credentials. He instead offers the original source that has brought him to his conclusion. If this were more prevalent throughout the work it would not only validate the author's credibility but would facilitate further study. Polk has composed a gripping and reasoned analysis of the history of Iraq. He has covered a large amount of material but has still managed to provide lucid and relevant commentary on what is taking place in the Middle East today. In his conclusion he offers a glimpse of what Iraq may look like in the future as well as what America's role may be.

I read a book of review of this in _The Economist_ and thought I'd give it a try. Excellent book--the history of Iraq for the person who wants to understand more of what's going on over there but doesn't have a job as a full-time historian. Enough history was covered to give you a feel for the general state of affairs in Iraq, and it gave me some insight into why things are unfolding the way they are now. I think the single most shocking thing that I learned was that the British had already been down this path before, and their occupation of Iraq didn't fare any better than ours is. Why didn't someone in charge read a couple history books?! I found the book to be pretty well-balanced and thought the author did a good job of keeping his personal opinions out of the text. He may lean a wee bit to the left (based on some of his sources), but nobody can keep their biases completely out of their work. The fact that the author speaks both Arabic and Turkish gives him credibility in my eyes, since I firmly believe that if you're going to even attempt to understand another culture, you really do need to learn the language. At any rate, I think what this guy has written has far more insight and depth than anything that's come out of the Bush administration since this whole fiasco in Iraq began.

UNDERSTANDING IRAQ is a brief, but extremely valuable, survey of Iraq's history from the prehistoric Ubaidians to the 2004 Iraq Provisional Authority. The book is divided into six chapters: Ancient Iraq, Islamic Iraq, British Iraq, American Iraq, and Whose Iraq?. The history is interlaced with William Polk's views on how current US policy interacts with that history. He is well-qualified for this task, for he has spent nearly sixty years visiting, studying, and teaching about Iraq. Polk presents a much more credible explanation of why the United States has become unpopular in the Muslim world that Bernard Lewis did in his CRISIS OF ISLAM. He is also a better writer than Lewis, marshalling his facts and opinions into crisp, orderly prose. Polk identifies mistakes recent US administrations have made in dealing with Iraq; many of them eerily similar to those made by the Brtish during their rule under League of Nations mandate in the 1920's and 1930's. The "shock and awe" of that era was generated by "armed Fords" and biplanes. The British installed as puppet king, Faisal, a man who had never previously set foot in the country. The US selected to head the Provisional Authority, Iyad al-Allawi, who once was a senior Baathist in Saddam's secret police and then for thirty years an anti-Saddam expatriate funded by the CIA. Another grievous US mistake, according to Polk, is in creating a large, well-trained Iraqi army instead of a large, well-trained Iraqi police force. It was the British-trained Iraqi army whose revolt in 1958 led to the dictatorship of Saddam. Anyone still doubting the old saw about the need to learn from history to avoid repeating its mistakes ought to read the letter T E Lawrence (of Arabia)wrote to the London Times in 1920. "The people of England have been led in Mesopotamia into a trap from which it will be hard to escape with dignity and honour. They have been tricked into it..."

In 200 pages and six chapters (Ancient Iraq,Islamic Iraq, British Iraq, Revolutionary Iraq, American Iraq, Whose Iraq?) Polk privides a historical perspective for today's events. I now understand something about the history of the Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds. I did not know that Kuwait was cleaved out of Iraq by the British to deny other colonial powers access to India via the Persian Gulf. I did not understand what motivated Americas relationship with Sadam prior to 1991. I did not know anything about the British occupation of Iraq before and after WWI. Polk writes clearly and concisely. Polk says that if history is a good teacher, the longer we stay in Iraq the worse it will be for the Iraqis and for we Americans both in Iraq and at home. Polk may have an axe to grind. I don't know enough about Iraq to tell. If he does, he isn't obvious about it. If he does have an axe to grind, then someone needs to write the book America in Iraq - Why this time will be different.