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
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Iraq will continue to be a major issue and involvement for the United States into the foreseeable future, says William R. Polk, former member of the State Department’s Policy Planning Council and professor of Middle Eastern history at the University of Chicago.
Iraq sits on the world’s largest supply of oil, and with the world’s energy requirements continuously rising, Iraq will play an ongoing role in the global economy and the political environment throughout the Gulf region and the Middle East.
Polk’s concise, authoritative overview of Iraq’s history shows how the pattern of outside intervention was established first by the Ottoman Turks and the Persian Safavids and later by England, Russia, and Germany.
After World War I came British rule, followed by a brief and uneasy period of independence that sparked Iraqi nationalism, leading Saddam Husain to power with American military and financial aid and covert CIA involvement. The Iraq-Iran War and the invasion of Kuwait was followed by the Gulf War, the sanctions period, and the Bush administration’s decision to invade.
Finally, there is the American occupation and the challenges, opportunities, and options that Iraqis and Americans face now and in the future.
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William R. Polk (1929–2020) was an American foreign policy consultant and author. He was a professor of history at Harvard University and the University of Chicago, and was president of the latter’s Adlai Stevenson Institute of International Affairs. He helped to organize the “Table Ronde” meeting that laid the groundwork for the European Union. He was called back to the White House briefly during the 1967 Middle Eastern war to write a draft peace treaty and to act as advisor to US National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy.
Paul Heitsch has been narrating audiobooks since 2011, after having worked as a pianist, composer, recording engineer, producer, and sound designer for many years. His work is often cited for the authenticity he brings to the narrative and characters he portrays, as well as his versatility, and clear, smooth delivery.
