xvii, 318 p. : 24 cm

From the Publisher: The story of Iraq is that of a people struggling to overcome the burdens of a turbulent past. From the ancient Mesopotamian civilizations to the 2003 U.S. invasion and subsequent fall of Saddam Hussein, A Brief History of Iraq takes a concise but comprehensive look at the peoples and cultures of Iraq and the regional influences that shaped the destiny of the country's many ethnicities, religions, sects, and national groups. Because of Iraq's porous frontiers, its accommodating soil and climate, and its diverse inhabitants, its history has been one of interaction, adaptation, acculturation, and modification. These factors have played a major role in the development of the modern nation and provide the context needed to understand the current conflict and efforts to build a stable society and government

Includes bibliographical references (p. 289-301) and index

List of illustrations -- List of maps -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1: Iraq, the first society (prehistory to 539 BCE) -- 2: From the Persian empire to the Sassanians (539 BCE-651 CE) -- 3: Iraq under the Umayyad dynasty (651-750) -- 4: Abbasid and post-Abbasid dynasty (750-1258) -- 5: Turkish tribal migrations and the early Ottoman state (1256-1638) -- 6: Imperial administration, local rule, and Ottoman recentralization (1638-1914) -- 7: British occupation and the Iraqi monarchy (1914-1958) -- 8: Growth of the republican regimes and the emergence of Baathist Iraq (1958-1979) -- 9: Rule of Saddam Hussein and the difficult legacy of the Mukhabarat state (1979-2003) -- 10: War in Iraq (2003-2008) -- Postscript -- Appendixes: 1: Basic facts about Iraq -- 2: Chronology -- 3: Bibliography -- 4: Suggested reading -- Index

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