Product Description

This updated edition of Charles Tripp’s A History of Iraq covers events since 1998, and looks at present-day developments right up to mid-2002. Since its establishment by the British in the 1920s Iraq has witnessed the rise and fall of successive regimes, culminating in the dictatorship of Saddam Husain. Tripp traces Iraq’s political history from its nineteenth-century roots in the Ottoman empire, to the development of the state, its transformation from monarchy to republic and the rise of the Ba’th party and the ascendancy of Saddam Husain. This is a story of social conflict, of power struggles between rival clans, of hostility and wars with neighboring states, as well as of their aftermath, and Iraq’s deteriorating relations with the West. The book offers an incisive analysis of the making of a modern state and how it creates its own distinctive politics.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3127489 in Books
• Published on: 2002-05-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 346 pages

Review
Review of the first edition: ‘Tripp offers a very readable account that presents the many different political figures, the ebb and flow of central government relations with Kurds and Shiites, and the ongoing regional and international coverage.’ Foreign Affairs

‘Charles Tripp has produced a well-written and well-researched overview of Iraq’s history … the book’s perspective and interpretation are new and interesting … This book contains considerable food for thought … the volume in hand not only provides first-rate material for exploring Iraq’s past and its future, but also a plausible account of how the state got where it is.’ The Middle East Journal

Review of the first edition: ‘… by far the best and most serious history of Iraq to date.’ Efraim Karsh, Reviews in History

‘This book is an excellent introduction to the complexities of a country few of us know very much about. Tripp offers a quick introduction to the history of Iraq which can be understood and appreciated by both academics and laymen alike.’ Lindsay Moore Geros, Reformer (the journal of the Tory Reform Group)

‘… an authoritative academic account by the leading British scholar on the subject. His conclusions on the 1920 revolt against British rule are fascinating.’ The Observer

'Avi Shlaim, professor of international relations at St Antony's College, Oxford, calls it Tripp's 'greatest contribution to the field', adding 'I have read half a dozen histories of modern Iraq and this is the one I rate the most highly … this is the most prestigious Middle East studies series in the world and, as general editor, Dr Tripp deserves a share of the credit, Shlaim says.' Times Higher Education Supplement

About the Author
Charles Tripp is Professor of Politics with reference to the Middle East at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is the General Editor of the Cambridge Middle East Studies Series and author of A History of Iraq (3rd Edition, CUP, 2007) and Islam and the Moral Economy: The Challenge of Capitalism (CUP, 2006).

Customer Reviews

An enlightening, lucid political history of modern Iraq
Charles Tripp has used his in-depth knowledge of Iraq's history and politics to produce a superb and very accessible analysis. Here is the result of serious scholarship and historical understanding distilled in a way that leaves this book's sensationalist rivals far behind.

Tripp shows how Saddam Hussein's politics derive not just from his own make-up but from a tradition in Iraq politics going back to the creation of the state in 1920. Throughout, a small Sunni Arab elite, and in particular the nationalist military officers among them, have been attempting to weld the British creation called 'Iraq' into a strong state. Thoughout, they were faced by the fundamental insecurity of the state and of their own regime. The way they dealt with this was to attempt to impose their own vision of the strong state they pursued, on the rest of society. Throughout also, they were prepared to use violence to do so, and to defend themseves from real or perceived challengers. Saddam has been more effective at this, and more brutal, than his predecessors.

In the process, Tripp shows, Iraqi society (tribes, Shi'ites, Kurds) has in many ways adapted to this pattern: groups and elites adjusted their strategies of survival, and of obtaining resources from the state, accordingly. At the same time, though, these regimes' use of violence and playing off various sections of the population against each other - in attempting to strengthen the state - reduced the chance of creating a cohesive Iraqi national identity, and genuine legitimacy for the regime. The indirect result, therefore, was a failure to achieve the original aim.

Of course, all such regimes and the groups suporting them also developed their own particular interests, material or otherwise, and all used patronage as well as fear to maintain their power base. Saddam Hussein's regime is merely the latest, and extreme, version of these patterns.

A review can't do this subject justice; read the book!

A serious academic book with a misleading title...
The title of this book is somewhat misleading. ‘A Political History of Iraq’ would perhaps be more appropriate. The author gives a very detailed account of the changes within each successive government since the Ottoman Empire. However, I was left with many unanswered questions about major historical events. For example, each of the World Wars is covered in only four pages. Additionally, there is very little description of any facet of Iraqi society and culture that does not have a direct bearing on political matters. This is a book written by a serious scholar for the benefit of other academics.

Despite reviews on the cover proclaiming the author’s style to be ‘very readable’, I found it to be a very heavy read. If you can understand words such as 'antithetical', 'inculcate', 'vitiated', 'polity', 'irredentist', 'intercine', 'obduracy' and 'bravura' without referring to a dictionary then this book may be for you. If you are a layman who just wants to learn about the overall history of Iraq, then look elsewhere.