Understanding Iraq by William R Polk

Understanding Iraq by William R Polk

The destinies of Iraq and America will be entwined for the foreseeable future, due to U.S. incursion -- the latest in a long history of violent outside interventions. A country located directly over the world's largest supply of crude oil, Iraq will continue to play an essential role in global economics and in Middle Eastern politics for many decades. Therefore, it is vitally important that Westerners have a clear understanding of this volatile, enigmatic land, its turbulent past and possibilities for the future.

In Understanding Iraq, noted Middle East authority William R. Polk presents the dramatic story of the "Land of Two Rivers" in one concise volume. This fascinating, in-depth study presents a comprehensive history of the events that shaped modern Iraq, while offering well-reasoned judgments on what we can expect there in years to come.William R. Polk is the author of The U.S. and the Arab World and The Elusive Peace. He taught at Harvard and was professor of history at the University of Chicago. In 1961 he was a member of the Policy Planning Council of the State Department. Polk was past president of the Adlai Stevenson Institute of International Affairs. He has written articles on Iraq and the Middle East for Foreign Affairs, the Atlantic Monthly, the Washington Post, the Chicago Sun Times and the New York Review of Books."It is a well-written and important book with considerable relevance to the survival of Western democracy." -- Said Aburish, author of Saddam Hussein

William R. Polk studied at Harvard and Oxford and taught at Harvard until 1961 when President J. F. Kennedy, McGeorge Bundy, director of the National Security Council, and Under Secretary of State, Chester Bowles put him on the newly reorganized Policy Planning Council. There he was responsible for much of Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. He was one of three members of the Crisis Management Committee during the Cuban Missile Crisis; headed the American task force that helped to end the Algerian war; and later he negotiated the Egyptian-Israeli cease fire on the Suez Canal. In 1965, the resigned to become Professor of History at the University of Chicago where he founded the Middle Eastern Studies Center, and subsequently was President of the Adlai Stevenson Institute of International Affairs. He is author of scores of essays and 17 books on world affairs. In 2012, he organized and chaired the conference on Affordable World Security that has been called the best meeting of its kind ever held in Washington.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780060764692
ISBN 10	0060764694
Title	Understanding Iraq
Author	William R Polk
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	HarperCollins Publishers Inc
Year published	2006-03-01
Number of pages	240
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.