Understanding of Iraq: the Whole Sweep of Iraqi History, from Genghis Khan’s Mongols to the Ottoman Turks to the British Mandate to the American Occupation

This book was published in 2005 by William R. Polk. It has 240 pages. Polk has drawn the road to comprehend the politics and history of Iraq. . He has tried to give a complete “portrait” of Iraq as it exists today, which make his readers to evaluate the key historical and current events in the history of Iraq. He has tried to give answers of many questions such as: What were the historical roots of conflicts in Iraq since Genghis Khan to American occupation? What was the role of external powers in Iraq? What were key factors that affected the Iraqi politics? How can we understand those events of Iraqi history today? He firstly problematized the history and war at Iraq, then analyzed those key developments to construct a historical construct of reality of Iraq. He started his book with very basic description of Mesopotamian civilization, which led the content of the book with a narrative of various civilizations, wars, coups and modern Iraq. It is one of the significance of this book, which carries a comparative narrative and analysis of target events with same credentials of other relevant books and authors including historians. Author of the book is an expert on Middle Eastern affairs, who is also known as a scholar of Arabic language. He was appointed by President Kennedy to the member of Policy Planning Council on Middle East in 1961. Therefore, he is distinguished with his 60-year career of diplomatic and academic intimacy with Middle Eastern affairs, which grant him authority on the target themes including history of Iraq. According to Polk, one can’t comprehend precisely Iraq and Middle East without knowing historical background of the region.