What do you think?
Rate this book
Iraq: Then & Now: The Ancient Sites & Iraqi Kurdistan
This new Bradt title responds to huge public interest in both Iraq and its people and is less a travel guide – certainly for the time being – and more of an objective account of Saddam’s regime as a whole, and the build-up to the recent conflict.
Focusing on developments in post-Saddam Iraq, without ignoring the horrors which have occurred in the aftermath of the war, the author highlights the country’s positive progression, with chapters such as ‘Iraqi Voices’ – describing the hopes, fears and ambitions of Iraqis – and ‘Post-Saddam Iraq’ – where we get to hear the views of prominent politicians on the war and how it was handled.
When Bradt published the first edition of its travel guide to Iraq, the country was slowly breaking free from the shackles of sanctions, Western tourists were returning in small numbers and it looked as if the fledgling tourist industry would grow. As in that travel guide, this new book introduces the magnificent ancient Iraqi civilisations and provides a historical background to the country, as well as providing updated practical information on which places are still open to visitors.
Focusing on developments in post-Saddam Iraq, without ignoring the horrors which have occurred in the aftermath of the war, the author highlights the country’s positive progression, with chapters such as ‘Iraqi Voices’ – describing the hopes, fears and ambitions of Iraqis – and ‘Post-Saddam Iraq’ – where we get to hear the views of prominent politicians on the war and how it was handled.
When Bradt published the first edition of its travel guide to Iraq, the country was slowly breaking free from the shackles of sanctions, Western tourists were returning in small numbers and it looked as if the fledgling tourist industry would grow. As in that travel guide, this new book introduces the magnificent ancient Iraqi civilisations and provides a historical background to the country, as well as providing updated practical information on which places are still open to visitors.
384 pages, Paperback
First published June 17, 2008
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 16, 2012
I found this to be a very informative read on the tourism potential of Iraq that explained a great deal about the history, culture, people and sights that are will be on offer there when the country finally becomes safe enough for tourists. That being said however there were a few minor issues I had with this.
the first issue I had was that throughout the sections of the book that specifically dealt with travel that the authors create the impression that while there are problems in Iraq that it would only take a small passage of time before it became sufficiently safe for tourists to return. Four years have passed since this book was published and the provinces of Iraq that were deemed unsafe in this book are seemingly no safer today than they were when this book went to print. I don't believe for a moment this is as a result of wilful stupidity on the author's part but I do think the overly hopeful tone would have been more wisely replaced with a more circumspect tone. Failing that I think Bradt as a company could have done more to support this book with updates as they do their other guidebooks which would have been a suitable means to address the current tourism situation in Iraq.
Another Issue I had with this book was the use of perhaps overly stereotypical language and content to describe Iraq. A particular example that drove me crazy in the early summary sections about Iraq's history and politics was the continual use of the phrase "fire-brand cleric" to describe Moqtada al-Sadr which as Patrick Cockburn points out in his excellent portrait of the man ( http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35... ) is a very poor way to describe him but was still used despite the authors quoting Cockburn elsewhere in the book.
the final issue that did prove to be annoying while reading this book was an editorial issue and not any fault of the authors. My complaint is with the use of boxed-off text throughout the entire book which for the most part proved to be a greater distraction than an aid to understanding Iraq. This issue was further compounded by the size of the boxes of text with some almost taking up entire double page spreads at the expense of content and others seem wholly irrelevant to the sections they were placed in really.
Despite these criticisms this book overall was an excellent introduction to the potential of travel in Iraq written by two authors who are very clearly passionate about their topic. The book was also an excellent introduction to Bradts tour guides and I would happily in future buy one of their travel guides which deal with the more off the beaten track parts of the world.
the first issue I had was that throughout the sections of the book that specifically dealt with travel that the authors create the impression that while there are problems in Iraq that it would only take a small passage of time before it became sufficiently safe for tourists to return. Four years have passed since this book was published and the provinces of Iraq that were deemed unsafe in this book are seemingly no safer today than they were when this book went to print. I don't believe for a moment this is as a result of wilful stupidity on the author's part but I do think the overly hopeful tone would have been more wisely replaced with a more circumspect tone. Failing that I think Bradt as a company could have done more to support this book with updates as they do their other guidebooks which would have been a suitable means to address the current tourism situation in Iraq.
Another Issue I had with this book was the use of perhaps overly stereotypical language and content to describe Iraq. A particular example that drove me crazy in the early summary sections about Iraq's history and politics was the continual use of the phrase "fire-brand cleric" to describe Moqtada al-Sadr which as Patrick Cockburn points out in his excellent portrait of the man ( http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35... ) is a very poor way to describe him but was still used despite the authors quoting Cockburn elsewhere in the book.
the final issue that did prove to be annoying while reading this book was an editorial issue and not any fault of the authors. My complaint is with the use of boxed-off text throughout the entire book which for the most part proved to be a greater distraction than an aid to understanding Iraq. This issue was further compounded by the size of the boxes of text with some almost taking up entire double page spreads at the expense of content and others seem wholly irrelevant to the sections they were placed in really.
Despite these criticisms this book overall was an excellent introduction to the potential of travel in Iraq written by two authors who are very clearly passionate about their topic. The book was also an excellent introduction to Bradts tour guides and I would happily in future buy one of their travel guides which deal with the more off the beaten track parts of the world.
July 5, 2019
Im from the south of Iraq /Basra city ,you are welcomed to visit our country
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews