Product Description

In this detailed history of the Kurds from the 19th century to the present day, McDowall examines the interplay of old and new aspects of the struggle, the importance of local rivalries within Kurdish society, the enduring authority of certain forms of leadership and the failure of modern states to respond to the challenge of Kurdish nationalism. Drawing extensively on primary sources McDowall's book is useful for all who want a better understanding of the underlying dynamics of the Kurdish question.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #309627 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 504 pages

Review
'... the best single narrative history of the Kurds ... it certainly belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in the Middle East.' - Washington Post Book World

About the Author
David McDowall is a specialist on Middle Eastern affairs and is the author of 'Palestine and Israel: The Uprising and Beyond (I.B.Tauris)'.

Customer Reviews

Leading modern history in English
This is the leading overall modern history of the Kurds in English - covering Turkey, Iraq and Iran. McDowall has tried very hard to be objective - not easy given the passions and controversies that litter Kurdish life and politics. As a reporter who first covered Kurdistan in 1992, and returned to northern Iraq this year (2003), I have usually travelled with a copy in my bag. It isn't the easiest read - if you want something more accessible try Randall's After Such Knowledge or Harvey Morris and John Bullock's No Friends but the Mountains (both very good books by knowledgeable 'old school' journalists). The book gives some sense of the extraordinary vitality and resilience of the Kurds in the face of appalling cruelty, hardship and indifference. A book waits to be written by some of the Kurds who have lived through much of this modern history but many of the participants have been too concentrated in action. Ibrahim Ahmed, the late Kurdish leader, once told me the history written by a Kurd would have to wait for a new generation ... but surely now that time has come.

details every Turkish,Persian,and Arab should read
Although the authorhas cut some of the subjects very short such as Kurdish language and excluded Yezidi and LUR from Kurdish nationality,he is very detailed in the history of the last century of Kurdistan in amanner i have never seen.I truly encourage every Kurd,Turk,Persian, and Arab to read this Treasure.I also would like to get in touch with Mr Mcdowall to discuss the possibility of translating it into either Kurdish or Arabic.

An illuminating side of West Asian history
The book is fair and illuminating in giving us a Kurdish side of Turkish, Iraqi and Iranian history. It's an important story, full of significant sub-plots. For just one example, McDowall explains that after Saddam nationalized Iraq's oil in 1972, Kurdish rebels like Mulla Mustafa feared that "Kurdish oil would be turned into Arab oil". They still wanted 2/3rds of all oil revenue reserved for the Kurdish community, and now they sought support from the United States. As the Pike Papers revealed in 1976, Henry Kissinger argued that "a new regime might let us back into the oilfields". In 1973 Mulla Mustafa threw secrecy to the winds by announcing in the Washington Post,

"We are ready to act according to US policy if the US will protect us from the wolves. In the event of sufficient support we should be able to control the Kirkuk oilfields and confer exploitation rights on an American company."