While some scholars would argue that there was no “Iraq” before King Faysal’s coronation in 1921, Iraqi history spans fourteen centuries of tribal communities that endured continual occupation in their historic homeland, including Mongol invasions in the thirteenth century and subsequent Ottoman and British invasions. An Iraqi identity was established long before the League of Nations defined the nation-state of Iraq in 1932. Drawing on neglected primary sources and other crucial accounts,...

Fawzi Karim is one of the most compelling voices of the exiled generation of Iraqi writers. The first of his poetry to appear in English, this collection includes an elegy for the life of a lost city—a chronicle of a journey into exile, haunted by the deep history of an ancient civilization. Memories of Baghdad's alleys, smoke-filled cafés, and mulberry-shaded squares are recalled with painful intensity. Karim's defiant humanity, rejecting dogma, and argumentative nature underscore his imp...

Governance in the Middle East is topic of interest to scholars, activists and policy makers. The currently proposed book is intended to present the first comprehensive framework of the question of governance in the Middle East in its various forms and manifestations: political, economic, and government performance.