A delightful, well-written, and vastly informative ethnographic study, this is an account of Elizabeth Warnock Fernea's two-year stay in a tiny rural village in Iraq, where she assumed the dress and sheltered life of a harem woman. This volume gives a unique insight into a part of the Midddle Eastern life seldom seen by the West.

This book recounts how the United States set about changing the history of the Middle East and became ensnared in a guerrilla war in Iraq. It brings to life the people and ideas that created the Bush administration's war policy and led America to the Assassins' Gate--the main point of entry into the American zone in Baghdad. The consequences of that policy are shown in the author's reporting on the ground in Iraq for The New Yorker. We see up close...

"Home to some of humankind's first great civilizations and the birthplace of many of our most important intellectual achievements, the land that is now Iraq has a long and remarkable history. Readers will discover how Iraq was first settled and how it became the country it is today. They will also find out what life is like for the average Iraqi citizen, from what people eat to where they work and what they do for fun, and learn about the country's...

Helen is a young Yazidi woman, living with her family in a mountain village in Sinjar, northern Iraq. One day she finds a local bird caught in a trap, and frees it, just as the trapper, Elias, returns. At first angry, he soon sees the error of his ways and vows never to keep a bird captive again. Helen and Elias fall deeply in love, marry and start a family in Sinjar. The village has seemed to stand apart from time, protected by the mountains and...

When an Iraqi family is forced to flee their home, they can't bear to leave their beloved cat, Kunkush, behind. So they carry him with them from Iraq to Greece, keeping their secret passenger hidden away. But during the crowded boat crossing to Greece, his carrier breaks and the frightened cat runs from the chaos. In one moment, he is gone. After an unsuccessful search, his family has to continue their journey, leaving brokenhearted. A few days later,...

When Saddam's soldiers came to his house, beat him and his mother and took his father away, Mohammed never saw his father again. This is his story. From that terrible night, to the escape from Iraq by bus, on horseback, in an inflatable raft on a raging river and finally, hiding in a lorry on a ship. It covers his journey from Kirkuk to the Iraq-Iran border, through Iran, into Turkey and then on to England and safety. Mohammed and his mother were...

"Captured by ISIS, her bravery and faith became her pathway to freedom. Badeeah Hassan was just 18 when she witnessed firsthand the horrors of the 2014 genocide of the Ezidi people by ISIS forces. Captured by ISIS, known locally as Daesh, Badeeah was among hundreds forced into a brutal human trafficking network made up of women and girls of Ezidi ethnicity, a much-persecuted minority culture of Iraq. Badeeah's story takes her to Syria where she is...

"In this course, we will explore Mesopotamian societies from the Neolithic era (c. 9,000 B.C.) to the defeat of the great Persian Empire at Gaugamela by Alexander the Great (331 B.C.) The study will take us from the world of international diplomacy with powerful neighbors in Egypt, Syria, and Anatolia to the mundane issues of daily life, such as providing food for the family, curing disease, and settling legal disputes. It examines archaeological...

A prizewinning "New York Times" correspondent chronicles a remarkable chain of events that begins with the rise of the Taliban in the 1990s, continues with the attacks of 9/11, and moves on to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.