Baghdad Sketches (Marlboro Travel)
by Freya Stark
from Marlboro Press
Iraq in a Nutshell (Nutshell Notes) (Nutshell Notes)
by Amanda Roraback
from Enisen Publishing
A Los Angeles Times bestseller, "Iraq in a Nutshell" has helped readers understand how Saddam Hussein became so powerful in Iraq, why the Kurds and Shi'ites have become such important players in the creation of a post-Saddam government, how Iraq's oil reserves have affected international politics and why the world was so divided in its support or criticism of U.S. involvement in the Middle East country.
The second edition of "Iraq in a Nutshell" also includes short, easy-to-read chapters explaining post-war insurgency; the controversy over Iraq's purported development of Weapons of Mass Destruction and the transfer of power from the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Government to the interim government led by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
Axis of Evil World Tour: An Americans Travels in Iran, Iraq, and North Korea
by Scott Fisher
from iUniverse, Inc.
Axis of Evil World Tour goes beyond the superficial coverage found in much of the media to bring a boots-on-the-ground look at three of the most enigmatic, difficult-to-enter countries on the planet—Iran, Iraq, and North Korea.
North Korea: Visit the tense yet quiet DMZ that divides North from South, one of the eeriest places on earth. Spend time touring Pyongyang, the showcase capital that houses the regime and its elites. Travel halfway across the country to the beautiful “Heavenly Fragrance” mountain for a visit to the surreal, cult-like “museums” housing gifts to the country’s leaders, Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il.
Iraq: WhatÂ’s it like to live on a U.S. military base during the war in Iraq? Spend two months as part of the Iraqi Survey Group, the international team that was tasked with finding SaddamÂ’s weapons of mass destruction.
Iran: What do Iranians think of the U.S. and Americans? You might be surprised. Travel around the country and take an inside look at KhomeiniÂ’s tomb, hear about IranÂ’s own fight against Al Qaeda, and take a look inside the secret world of the mullahs that really run Iran.
Head to AxisofEvilTour.com for photos, book excerpts, and video clips.
Iraq: Then & Now (Bradt Travel Guide)
by Karen Dabrowska
from Bradt Travel Guides
This new Bradt title responds to huge public interest in both Iraq and its people and is less a travel guide – certainly for the time being – and more of an objective account of Saddam’s regime as a whole, and the build-up to the recent conflict.
Focusing on developments in post-Saddam Iraq, without ignoring the horrors which have occurred in the aftermath of the war, the author highlights the country’s positive progression, with chapters such as ‘Iraqi Voices’ – describing the hopes, fears and ambitions of Iraqis – and ‘Post-Saddam Iraq’ – where we get to hear the views of prominent politicians on the war and how it was handled.
When Bradt published the first edition of its travel guide to Iraq, the country was slowly breaking free from the shackles of sanctions, Western tourists were returning in small numbers and it looked as if the fledgling tourist industry would grow. As in that travel guide, this new book introduces the magnificent ancient Iraqi civilisations and provides a historical background to the country, as well as providing updated practical information on which places are still open to visitors.
Dancing in the No-fly Zone: A Woman's Journey Through Iraq
by Hadani Ditmars
from Olive Branch Press
When Hadani Ditmars first went to Iraq in 1997 for the New York Times, she was shocked at what she saw. Six years of the worst sanctions ever inflicted on a modern nation had brought the people to their knees. Yet there was so much more to the "cradle of civilization" than misery and suffering. In the midst of despair she found art, beauty, architecture, music. She discovered orchestras who played impassioned symphonies on wrecked instruments, playwrights who pushed the limits of censorship, artists who spent their last dinars on paint and canvas, families who still celebrated weddings by dancing to maqam-traditional love songs.
Ditmars travelled to Iraq again and again, reporting on every aspect of life. In September 2003, she returned to Baghdad to find the people she had met over the years and see what had become of them since the U.S. "liberation." Dancing In The No-Fly Zone is the story of that trip, interwoven with tales from her earlier visits and of the people she met along the way: actors and artists, mercenaries and businessmen, street kids and sufis, even the "king in waiting." It includes a visit to Abu Ghraib prison, in which Ditmars is given a tour of the Saddam-era execution chamber by the U.S. general who was later dismissed after the abuse scandal broke.
As the situation worsens and the violence intensifies, Ditmars spends a miraculous evening with a group of Iraqis who sing and dance along to a performance of maqam. A people who have suffered so much yet maintain such resilience deserve to have the full depth of their humanity portrayed. Hadani Ditmars captures this spirit in Dancing in the No-Fly Zone.
Iraq-Iran-Kuwait-Dubai-United Arab Emirates (Road Maps)
by Freytag-Berndt
from Freytag-Berndt
A detailed road map of Iran at a scale of 1:2,000,000 (1" to 32 miles). The second focus of the map is the Persian Gulf, through the Strait of Hormuz into the Gulf of Oman, and the countries that border the waterway. All of Qatar, and Kuwait are shown along with parts of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, The United Arab Emirates, Oman, Pakistan, Afganistan, and Turkmenistan. There is an inset of Southeast Iran and Pakistan. The legend is in English, German, French, Italian, and the local languages. There is an index on the reverse side.
Iraq: The Space Between
from powerHouse Books
During the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 Christoph Bangert was still attending photography school. Only later, in the spring of 2005, when the Iraqi insurgency and sectarian violence reached its first peak, Westerners were kidnapped and beheaded, and most foreign journalists had left the country, did this intrepid photographer start to work in Iraq on assignment for The New York Times. The overtly hostile environment in Iraq for foreigners, without regard of the individual's intention or affiliation, restricts the freedom of journalists, particularly photographers, who (unlike writers) must be physically present in order to get the story. Despite these conditions Bangert remained in Iraq as one of the few Western photographers committed to cover the war throughout 2006 and early 2007. He has worked largely independently from the military, using Iraqi guards, drivers, and translators, but was also occasionally embedded with American, British, and Iraqi forces. Iraq: The Space Between records the distance he traveled as a civilian between worlds committed to destruction in the name of freedom.
Passenger to Tehran
Travels in American Iraq
by John Martinkus
from Black (Aus)
Rare insight into the realities of liberation and the limits of U.S. power. When the Coalition of the Willing liberated Iraq from the yoke of Saddam in early 2003, George W. Bush announced that the second Gulf War was over. This account demonstrates just the opposite. Martinkus has the courage to say what the mainstream press cannot. He spent eight weeks in and around Baghdad in early 2004, he shows that, amidst a developing guerrilla war and a chaotic reconstruction, the line between liberation and occupation has become stretched. Tracing the ever-widening gap between rhetoric and reality, Eight Weeks in Baghdad takes readers to the heart of the political and religious struggles surrounding the hand-over of power in mid-2004. Vividly describing people and places, the author evokes the everyday life.
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