This book is the first authoritative and up-to-date survey of the history of Iraq from earliest times to the present in any language. It presents a concise narrative of the rich and varied history of this land, drawing on political, social, economic, artistic, technological, and intellectual material. It also includes excerpts from works of ancient, medieval, and modern literature written in Iraq, some of which are translated for the first time into English. The final chapters provide an introduction to the history of archaeology in Iraq, set in the wider context of the development of...

How does the Iraq War affect the future world order? And what kinds of problems has this war brought about, and what is needed to remedy these problems, so as to reconstruct an order in Iraq and beyond? This present volume is a collection of essays exploring these issues, written by leading scholars in their respective fields. Importantly, the Iraq War has caused numerous long-term security and economic problems in Iraq (Chapter 1) and in the Middle East (Chapter 2). In addition, this war represents a failure of the Western liberals' project of establishing a liberal market democracy, and...