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Lets you know the culture of Iraq - from Mesopotamian to modern. This title also lets you: read about the Babylonians and Sumerians, witness the birth of Islam, and explore Iraq with its diverse ethnic groups, languages, festivals, and customs. ... Read more

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Discusses the geography, history, government, economy, and culture of the country where the world's first civilization was born. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Ancient Middle Eastern Culture
I have read this book about 20 times, when I was in High School and it seems like an okay book about Iraq. The book talks about the Iraqi dictator (Saddam Hussein) and his long ruling of Iraq from July 1979 till April 2003, The Gulf War from 1990-1991, and the Iran-Iraq War from 1980-1988.

There is also a section that talks about the two large groups in Iraq: the Arabs (75-80%) and the Kurds(15-20%) and the religions that are practiced in Iraq: Islam 97% (Shia 60-62% and Sunni 32-37%), and various sects of Christianity 3%. ... Read more

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Lets you discover Iraq - from the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates to hot and dry deserts and mountains. This book helps you learn about the land that was home to the first cities and civilizations and explore the old and new cities of Baghdad, Basra, Ur, and Babylon. ... Read more

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Lets you meet the people of Iraq - the Arabs, the Kurds, the Bedouins, and the Armenians. This book helps you learn about the diversity of their religion, languages, customs, and cuisine. It also lets you take a glimpse into the daily life of the Iraqi people, as well as their cities, villages, homes, markets, and schools. ... Read more

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Constructing America's War Culture provides a cultural analysis of how the images of the war in Iraq have been influenced and packaged by the media to construct a narrative of war, the Bush Presidency, the fear of terrorism, and the changing global attitudes toward America and American aggression. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The Culture of War
I recommend this book not only for students of Communication ( a must read for them) but also for the general reader. The eight authors, each a specialist in his or her field, paint a grim, detailed and insightful analysis of the many ways in which the media have literally worked in concert with the government in creating a culture of war. There is no paranoia here, only the documented details of the creation of an American culture "accustomed to the possibility of war." This book uses the Iraq War as a vivid example, but it also documents the evolution of this destructive symbiosis since the late nineteenth century. It is by no means only a historical record. This is a handbook for perceptive citizens who need the evidence of history to guard against the powerful and subtle forces which have perverted the true notion of patriotism and madewar an option far more acceptable than it ought to be.

Academic context with a good message
I found this book very precise in its links between war, age, race and metaphorical framing.If one is interested in Lakoff, Zinn and Chomsky, you'll enjoy this book.This text is academic without being preachy.

Selling a War by Bill Mannetti
If you take seriously the Jeffersonian proposition that democracy cannot exist without a free press, then "Constructing America's War Culture" will disturb you; more, if you believe war is too important to be left to the politicians, then "Constructing" will outrage you.But this book, a nuanced collection of essays by communication specialists, will also inspire you to delve into alternative news sources, explore alternative-view scholarship, and perhaps even join one of the small and independent organizations (cited in several chapter's endnotes) courageously swimming against the current in defiance of politically connected corporate media determined to hold monopoly control of information.

In addition to its focus on the shaping and dissemination of news during time of war, "Constructing" shines a klieg light on the entertainment industry, revealing a picture - as unglamorous as it is unbecoming - of compliant film executives who, in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq and during its initial aftermath, were eager to do the Bush administration's bidding, behavior that, sadly, only echoed what Hollywood's dream machine operators have done since that industry's earliest days.

Read this book so that the next time a presidential administration endeavors to sell you a phony reason to go to war, you won't buy it. ... Read more

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Based on extensive original research, Shoot First and Ask Questions Later provides a comprehensive analysis of media coverage of the war in Iraq in 2003. The authors look closely at the main actors involved through a broad range of interviews with journalists (both embedded and non-embedded), news editors, news heads, and with key planners at the Pentagon and the UK Ministry of Defence. This book also investigates how the war was represented on television, employing both a systematic content analysis of the broadcast news coverage of the war and a series of case studies that unravel key moments of good and bad reporting during the war. Finally, it examines how people responded to and interpreted the information they received from the media, drawing upon both large-scale surveys and focus groups.What emerges, for all its blemishes, is a picture of a sophisticated, military public-relations campaign—one that had less to do with censorship than with promoting certain kinds of coverage. At the heart of this was the embedded journalists program, which has clearly changed the way war is reported.In future, the authors argue, journalists need to understand their role in this public relations effort, and to ask questions not only when access is denied, but also when it is granted. ... Read more

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Groundbreaking and compelling, Watching Babylon examines the experience of watching the war against Iraq on television, on the internet, in the cinema and in print media.

Mirzoeff shows how the endless stream of images flowing from the Gulf has necessitated a new form of visual thinking, one which recognises that the war has turned images themselves into weapons. Drawing connections between the history and legend of ancient Babylon, the metaphorical Babylon of Western modernity, and everyday life in the modern suburb of Babylon, New York, Mirzoeff explores ancient concerns which have found new resonance in the present day.

In the tradition of Walter Benjamin, Watching Babylon illuminates the Western experience of the Iraqi war and makes us re-examine the very way we look at images of conflict.

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Customer Reviews (6)

An interesting idea but so poorly executed it is fatally flawed
John Dower has written some very interesting histories in the past. Embracing Defeat was a great piece and was as much a cultural history as a military one.However in Cultures of war he goes far off track and tries to liken the invasion of Iraq by the Bush administration to the Japanese attack on Pear Harbor.In his mind the two are very similar and should be seen through the lens of two nearly identical actions in history.

However his obvious bias against the Bush administration so weakens his arguments that his idea can not be taken seriously. I found the premise interesting for its concept that both Japan and the U.S. waged wars of choice rather than need.One could argue if Japan's was of choice but that's another discussion.But for every level headed discussion of how Japan came to its decision to attack Pearl Harbor we are treated to an opinionated rant about how the Bush administration chose to wage war and ignored everything to the contrary.

What he chooses to ignore is that the Baker Commission, while criticizing Bush and his pre-invasion intelligence apparatus, does concede that other intelligence agencies, (Germany, France and the UN to name 3) also thought Iraq was possessing WMD. He rails about the lack of knowledge about the Iraq and tries to compare that to the misconceptions about the Japanese before WWII.Reading this reminds me of the famous quote by Omar Bradly who said, "We go to so much damn trouble planning the next war, only to have the enemy selfishly decide not to fight according to our plan!"

This book is just a waste of time and I encourage you to find something better to read. It shouldn't be hard!

Should be titled: "How to Ruin Your Reputation in One Book"
John W. Dower has the credentials: two award winning books and professorship at MIT. Unfortunately, he allows his hatred for the two Bush administrations to cloud his judgment and wrote a despicable book which should not be classified as history but as political philosophy. Fundamental to understand his complete collapse as a historian is to read the completely erroneous information he cites when describing the raid at Pearl Harbor.

Authors such as Gordon Prange have been refuted over the years as access to more information became available. Books like EMPIRES IN THE BALANCE, KAIGUN, A LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO WAR and A BATTLE HISTORY OF THE IMPERIAL JAPANESE NAVY refute many of the observations people accept as "fact". Some of Dower's glaring errors include:

(1) The Imperial Japanese Navy did not plan the raid; it was the brain child of the Combined Fleet. And the assault on the Southern Resource Area was not contingent upon the success of the raid. The first planned shots by the Imperial Japanese Navy did not occur at Ford Island in Pearl Harbor; about the time the USS WARD was engaging the IJN minisub trying to enter Pearl Harbor, IJN warships were shelling British defenses on Kota Bharu.

(2) The two carriers currently operating out of Pearl Harbor were not "conveniently" out of port on exercises the morning of 7 December 1941; Admiral Kimmel was using them to resupply and refit Wake and Midway Islands, both of which were attacked within 24 hours of the raid at Pearl Harbor.

(3) For years, the IJA and IJN competed for dollars, as all services do. The IJA recommended going north, a land problem; the IJN recommended going south, a naval problem. But the IJA would be devastated at Nomohan by Zhukov and suddenly the IJA supported the IJN's policy.

These are but a few of the glaring errors of John Dower's book. One would think such a renowned Pacific War historian would know about these.

His attacks on the Bush administrations are equally flawed. He spends time associating the post-DESERT STORM sanctions with Bush 41 while highlighting the devastation DESERT STORM brought to the dual-use infrastructure. Missing from his commentary is the eight-year period when President Clinton maintain, even strengthened the sanctions. Additionally, he never discusses the deaths as a result of the destruction of dual-use infrastructure during Operation DESERT FOX, one of the largest air campaigns in history.

If it were possible, I would seek a refund for the purchase price of this book.

UPDATE: Regrettably, the National Book Foundation has also forsaken its integrity by nominating this deplorable rant as a finalist for the National Book Award.

What might have been
This book is a failure, and the fault lies in the author's inability to find and follow a coherent theme.

Three of the threads, Pearl Harbor, 9-11, and the invasion of Iraq, make sense in that they attempt to examine the thought processes that leaders went through in undertaking this trio of dastardly deeds of making war. The fourth theme, terror - particularly as practiced by the United States in the closing months of WWII, made little sense.

By reading this much longer than needed book, one can gain great insight into the folly of Pearl Harbor from the Japanese perspective. The author is one of the most highly regarded experts on WWII from that point of view, and I read this portion of the book with great anticipation as he rehashed much of what he has uncovered over the years. He was able to convey the folly of the fatal group think as it relates to the impact of the attack on the morale of United States effectively and with great dramatic effect. As I finished that portion of the narrative, I felt that this was going to be valuable addition to the education of generalist historians.

The comparison of the `strategic imbecility' of the inner circle in Japan in 1941 with that of group think leading up to the invasion of Iraq in the spring of 2003 was eye popping. The failure of the leaders of both nations to really think through the possible consequences of their decisions was convincing and in accord with what I thought was going to be the overarching theme of the book, cultures of war. In these two subjects, I thought that he was onto something big - and valuable.

But, of course, he has no more insight into the inner workings of al Qaeda than the rest of us, and one cannot conclude whether the actual attacks of 9-11 had all or some of the weaknesses of group think that the record of the two great nation states afford as they marched to folly. Since the details of the decision making process may never be known, this section of the book is useless in evaluating the benefits and costs to Bin Laden and his associates. Whether they thought the attacks would actually return the Caliphate or if that was merely propaganda is not known. Clearly the terrorists were willing to lay down their lives, and we can only speculate that they thought that the attack might lead to great success but without them surviving to see it. Certainly, I felt I had gained no insight on the mindset of this culture of war.

Professor Dower's examination of terror in war and specifically in the conflicts examined in this book is long, tedious, uneven and, in my judgment very unfair. There is, in my opinion, a very anti-American bias in the handling of the subject. While he makes reference to Japanese terror in China, direct statements on such episodes as the rape of Nanking are few and far between and very oblique at that. The number of pages devoted to American and British terrorizing of noncombatants in Germany and Japan goes into the hundreds. The purpose of my review is not to defend the carpet bombing of both countries but rather to point out the imbalance. There is almost no mention of the Battle of Britain in which Hitler and his coterie practiced mass bombing with an eye to undermining the morale of the British people. We learn that Churchill when ordering the bombing of Dresden and Hamburg had completely changed his tune from 1940, but there is almost nothing more about the attacks by Germany. The `Buzz Bombs' and V2s which were built and utilized solely for terror get no ink at all.

Dower's rehash of the decision to use the A-Bomb refreshes our memories but, again, shows an anti-American bias. All I will say is that he goes on ad nauseam demonstrating that President Truman was wrong in using the weapon as he did. His at length examination of the whining of the scientists who developed the bomb was unconvincing. The atomic age came about when scientists convinced Einstein to approach FDR with the idea that an atomic weapon might be built, that it might be a super weapon and that Hitler might already be working on it.

Roosevelt bought in and authorized huge expenditures for the secret project, and the rest is history (highly disputed history). The bomb was rushed to completion as the war was clearly winding down. Germany had been conquered and Japan's fate was sealed. Truman had to make the decision to use it or not. The by now cringing scientists seeing that the war was won did not want to been seen as complicit in terror at a scale known but to themselves. Many of them worked hard to get their views to Truman and other leaders. These scientists had a firm grasp of math and physics but had no understanding of American politics or international relations. Truman and his closest advisors demonstrated some pretty cold calculation but little of the foolish thinking shown in the other two ventures.

Truman ordered the use of the weapon based on the publicly stated point that it would end the war quickly and save American lives. Dower also makes the point that the weapon was designed to send a message to possible future enemies such as the Soviet Union. Based on the information provided here and elsewhere, the point seems well made. Dower then attempts to undercut the possibility of saving American lives issue. This is the oldest argument coming out of the war, and Dower marshals the whole dustbin of history to his cause, but he didn't move me.

As the argument is ripped apart once again, Dower like all before him ignores the most basic elements of it. As the constitutionally charged commander in chief, the president must effectively wage the war he is in. Had Truman not ended the war with the minimum of American casualties, every death and disability occurring after the weapon was available for use would have been directly attributable to his wavering. Even without an invasion of the Japanese homeland, hundreds if not thousands of soldiers, sailors and airmen would have died and been maimed. Too many of these and there could have been calls for the president's impeachment.

In all of these interminably long arguments on terror and on the atomic bomb in particular, Dower's theme on cultures of war is never effectively made.

This is a very interesting book, but it should not be read by those without some background on recent history.

American Hubris
This book cannot be considered a history and one could hardly classify it under any genre.Perhaps it should go under the rubtic of propaganda.Anyway,I believe this book could have been shortened to no more than one hundred pages-repetitions included.It is the kind of book which does not have anything new to convey to the reader, who will finally get frustrated and impatient.The overall message is that the American leaders are stupid,arrogant and militaristic.Their intelligence agencies are full of stupid,arrogant fellows who have not the faintest idea about their job.In addition,the Americans are responsible for the mass destruction caused in Iraq and Japan(during WW2), and perhaps in other places as well.The Americans also suffer from failures of imagination when it comes to handling intelligence and other geostrategical policies.
In short, all this is repeated during more than 450 pages (footnotes excluded)in a number of variations. One really wonders how come such a talented historian like Professor Dower could have written such a shallow and illogical text.

Rich in Analysis - Shows How Close We May Have Come to Total War
If you like history and often find true events stranger than fiction, you'll find Cultures of War entertaining.Some readers will be alarmed because this book is highly critical of the Bush Administration's use of history to prepare the American people for the decision to go to war in Iraq.Author John W. Dower, Harvard PhD and winner of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction, strips out propaganda and presents a viewpoint of what happened and what almost happened in our recent military conflicts.

The book, Cultures of War, juxtaposes Pearl Harbor with 9-11 to amazing effect.Here we get the impression that nothing is new under the sun.We see political leaders playing the same set of cards, populations falling in line as hoped, empires growing and waning - and tragedy.Nothing changes because human nature doesn't change.

For example, the leaders of imperial Japan that launched a surprise attack against the U.S. at Pearl Harbor believed they would emerge at the head of the largest unified territory in the history of the world.They planned an East Asia Cooperative Body that would include much of the Middle East, Australia, India and some of the Soviet Union, with the Yamato race occupying the seat of authority.This type of grand thinking is compared to that of former Vice President Cheney.In an interview with BBC in November 2001, Cheney spoke of targeting "as many as 40 to 50" nations for a range of actions including military force for harboring enemy terrorist cells.In their times, this all seemed somewhat plausible.

Dower explains the tendency toward groupthink that nurses risky military policy.It takes awhile for aggressive new policy ideas to gain traction, but thanks to the influence of the media and the skilled use of propaganda/advertising, almost anything can be made to seem normal.He traces the doctrine of preemptive war to military policy guidelines authored by Paul Wolfowitz in 1992.These guidelines were derided when leaked to the media at the time.However, years later the same guidelines went mainstream in the Bush Doctrine.This was the ideological underpinning used to justify preemptive war even if the threat was not immediate; unilateral withdrawals from international treaties; a policy to spread democracy around the world in order to combat terrorism; and a willingness to use the military to accomplish foreign policy goals.

Cultures of War shows how setbacks and failure sow the seeds of renewal.The rise of Japan as an economic powerhouse after World War II is examined and then compared in some ways to the American response to the quagmire that the Iraq War had become.In 2007 when Americans had reached a tipping point of opinion about the war, General Petraeus was promoted to commanding general to lead all U.S. troops in Iraq.Petraeus announced, "The people are the prize."With this new counterinsurgency strategy - to win the support of the local populations in Iraq by becoming one with them, U.S. fortunes on the battlefield greatly improved in that theater of operations.

There is much more to say about Cultures of War including the use of racist propaganda by all sides, all war belligerents.The analysis on what makes an occupation successful or not alone justifies the price of this book for political and military leaders.I highly recommend Cultures of War.
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This digital document is an article from Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ), published by Association of Arab-American University Graduates and Institute of Arab Studies on January 1, 2001. The length of the article is 8047 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: MODERNITY AND TRADITION IN THE ISLAMIC MOVEMENTS IN IRAQ: CONTINUITY AND DISCONTINUITY IN THE ROLE OF THE ULAMA.
Author: Keiko Sakai
Publication: Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ) (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 2001
Publisher: Association of Arab-American University Graduates and Institute of Arab Studies
Volume: 23Issue: 1Page: 37

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What can the present tell us about the past? From 1968 to 1990, Edward Ochsenschlager conducted ethnoarchaeological fieldwork near a mound called al-Hiba, in the marshes of southern Iraq. In examining the material culture of three tribes—their use of mud, reed, wood, and bitumen, and their husbandry of cattle, water buffalo, and sheep—he chronicles what is now a lost way of life. He helps us understand ancient manufacturing processes, an artifact's significance and the skill of those who create and use it, and the substantial moral authority wielded by village craftspeople. He reveals the complexities involved in the process of change, both natural and enforced.

Al-Hiba contains the remains of Sumerian people who lived in the marshes more than 5,000 years ago in a similar ecological setting, using similar material resources. The archaeological evidence provides insights into everyday life in antiquity. Ochsenschlager enhances the comparisons of past and present by extensive illustrations from his fieldwork and also from the University Museum's rare archival photographs taken in the late nineteenth century by John Henry Haynes. This was long before Saddam Hussein drove one of the tribes from the marshes, forced the Bedouin to live elsewhere, and irrevocably changed the lives of those who tried to stay.

Customer Reviews (2)

present informs the past
This is the region where "history began" as noted Sumerologist S. Kramer wrote. Ochenschlager's account of his time spent in the marshlands of southern Iraq is an important addition to scholarship of this remarkable landscape in that he clearly demonstrates the usefulness of undertakingethnoarcheological research in order for the past to be informed by the present.As a result, I was incredibly grateful when Ochsenschlager agreed to write the foreword for my own book about the area: "Wetlands of Mass Destruction: Ancient Presage for Contemporary Ecocide in Southern Iraq" whose purpose is the reciprocal; i.e. how the present can be informed by the past.

Archaeology's Finds Illuminated by Anthropology
The title is somewhat misleading. The Garden of Eden is not the subject. The author is interested in studying presentday village life near Tell el Hiba (ancient Sumerian Lagash) from an anthropological aspect to gather insights about objects found in that ancient location. For example, archaeologists excavated at Lagash pottery that was baked (fired) and unbaked (unfired). They were "mystified" over the creation and obvious usage of unfired pottery. Upon visiting the local Arabs, the author discovered that they too utilized baked and unbaked pottery and by questioning the Arabs over this phenomenon they learned "why" such a custom existed. So a modern anthropological investigation illuminated some of the ancient customs of Lagash.
To repeat: The Garden of Eden motif is not the subject, the employment of Anthropological methods to explain the ancient past at Lagash is the author's main intent. ... Read more

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Iraq, democracy and Islam are powerful global forces which shape not only many aspects of the lives of Muslims, but the lives of other citizens of the world as well. This book explores many of the challenging questions posed by the interconnections between these three forces, concentrating on issues which have global significance and which have been less studied up until now. It contains contributions from many of the leading thinkers and academics from this subject area, including the former President of Iran, Seyyed Mohammad Khatami.

Topics such as the compatibility of Islam and democracy, and the question of whether democracy can be encouraged in the Middle East are looked at carefully. Contributors evaluate the circumstances under which democracy can be imposed by outside force, and asks what forces are driving the confrontation between the West and Islam, before looking at how this confrontation is likely to develop.

This book presents a comprehensive picture of dynamic change in the geopolitics of our time, and offers a timely contribution to research on Middle East Politics and Islamic Studies.

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ), published by Association of Arab-American University Graduates on March 22, 2004. The length of the article is 8244 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Iraq and human development: culture, education and the globalization of hope.
Author: Jacqueline Ismael
Publication: Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ) (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2004
Publisher: Association of Arab-American University Graduates
Volume: 26Issue: 2Page: 49(18)

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This digital document is an article from Countries and Their Cultures, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 2385 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Covers the broad range of popular religious culture of the United States at the close of the twentieth century. Beliefs, practices, symbols, traditions, movements, organizations, and leaders from the many traditions in the pluralistic American community are represented. Also includes cults and phenomena that drew followers, such as Heaven's Gale and UFOs. ... Read more