IRAQ WAR DISCUSSION GROUP--Spring 2008

Selected Resources for Further Inquiry

This web guide is intended for the use of University of Puget Sound students enrolled in English 485: Iraq War Discussion Group. It is not a comprehensive listing of all information resources on the Iraq War, but rather aims to provide some launching points for further investigation. If you would like to recommend additional materials to be added to this page, please let one of your group discussion leaders know.

Most of the books and DVDs listed on this page are available in Collins Library, but many experience high circulation. For this reason, links to catalog records in both SIMON and SUMMIT are included. If the book or DVD you want to explore is already checked out, simply request another copy from SUMMIT. Items requested from another SUMMIT library usually will arrive within two to four business days.

See also the section on the Iraq War in Prof. Dillman's Resource Guide on the Middle East.

 

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXTS

Broad Overviews and Reference Works

  • Columbia University. School of International and Public Affairs. Gulf/2000 Project. "Designed to make available in a single location a wealth of information on the eight countries of the Persian Gulf region--Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates."
  • Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa, ed. Philip Mattar. Detroit: Macmillan, 2004. 4 vols. Available in the reference section of Collins Library: DS43 .E53 2004 Ref.
  • Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations, ed. James Minahan. Wesport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002. Useful for the entry on the Kurds. Available in the reference section of Collins Library: D 860 M56 2002 Ref.
  • Library of Congress. Country Study: Iraq. Originally published in 1988; country profile updated in 2006. Still useful for in-depth historical, economic, social, and cultural information.
  • CQ Researcher. (subscription database; you must be affiliated with the University of Puget Sound to access) Includes several reports on Iraq; just type in "Iraq" in the quick search box.

History

  • BBC News. Iraq Timeline: A Chronology of Key Events. Covers the years 1920 to the present (2008).
  • Polk, William Roe. Understanding Iraq: The Whole Sweep of Iraqi History, from Genghis Khan's Mongols to the Ottoman Turks to the British Mandate to the American Occupation. New York: HarperCollins, 2005.
  • Additional holdings on Iraqi history at Collins Library: Iraq-History.

Islam

  • The Qu'ran. A New Translation by M.A.S. Abdel Haleem. New York: Oxford, 2004.
  • Nasr, Seyyed Vali Reza. The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006.
  • Ruthven, Malise. Islam: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford, 2000.

9/11, Terrorism, and Weapons of Mass Destruction

 

 

Analyses of the Causes, Conduct, and Consequences of the War in Iraq

Books

  • Ajami, Fouad. The Foreigner’s Gift: The Americans, the Arabs, and the Iraqis in Iraq. New York: Free Press 2006.
    • Check availability in SUMMIT.
  • Allawi, Ali. The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.
  • Chandrasekaran, Rajiv. Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007.
  • Dadge, David. The War in Iraq and Why the Media Failed Us. Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publishers, 2006.
  • Diamond, Larry. Squandered Victory: The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq. Henry Holt, 2005.
    • Check availability in SUMMIT.
  • Gordon, Michael and Bernard Trainor. Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq. New York: Pantheon, 2006.
    • Check availability in SUMMIT.
  • Hashim, Ahmed S. Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency in Iraq. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2006.
  • Herring, Eric and Glen Rangwala. Iraq in Fragments: The Occupation and Its Legacy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2006.
  • Isikoff, Michael and David Corn. Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War. New York: Crown Publishers, 2006.
    • Check availability in SIMON or SUMMIT.
    • To find more books in Collins Library that explore the causes of the Iraq War, click on this Subject Heading: Iraq War, 2003--Causes.
  • Makiya, Kanan. Republic of Fear: The Politics of Modern Iraq, update ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.
  • Packer, George. The Assassin’s Gate: America in Iraq. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2005.
  • Ricks, Thomas E. Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq. New York: Penguin Books, 2006.
  • Stewart, Rory. The Prince of the Marshes: And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq. Orlando: Harcourt, 2006.
    • Check availability in SUMMIT.
  • Woodward, Bob. State of Denial. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006.
    • Check availability in SUMMIT.

       

Institutes and Think Tanks

 

 

The Iraq War in Film and Theater

Film (Documentaries)

Film (Drama)

  • Valley of the Wolves-Iraq, dir. Serdar Akar. [A 2006 Turkish feature film; never released in the United States.]. Prof. Brad Dillman has a copy dubbed into English.
  • Several feature films that touch upon the Iraq War are currently in U.S. theatrical release:

Theater

  • Stuff Happens: A Play, by David Hare. Check availability in SUMMIT. See also the NPR review of the play.

 

Content contact: Peggy Burge~Collins Memorial Library~University of Puget Sound

Last updated: January 22, 2008