In response to current events, Charles Tripp has updated his incisive book A History of Iraq to include developments as recent as mid-2002. Since its establishment by the British in the 1920s, Iraq has witnessed the rise and fall of successive authoritarian regimes, competing ruthlessly for power and resources. This struggle culminated in the dictatorship of Saddam Husain, who still maintains his grip over a fragmented and increasingly isolated society. Tripp's book traces Iraq's political history from its nineteenth-century roots in the Ottoman empire, to the development of the state, its transformation from monarchy to republic and the rise of the Ba'th party and the ascendancy and current rule of Saddam Husain. This is a story of social conflict, of power struggles between rival clans, of hostility and wars with neighboring states, as well as of their aftermath, and Iraq's deteriorating relations with the West. A History of Iraq offers incisive analysis of the making of a modern state and how it creates its own distinctive politics. Charles Tripp is Professor of Politics with reference to the Middle East at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is the General Editor of the Cambridge Middle East Studies Series and author of A History of Iraq (3rd Edition, CUP, 2007) and Islam and the Moral Economy: the challenge of capitalism (CUP, 2006).

Product Description: Both countries will have strong incentives to test the artificial balance established by the US and from which they are excluded. Each state, in the face of continued embargoes, may find the lure of weapons of mass destruction correspondingly increased. (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: A collection of lectures that seek to represent current thinking on a variety of contemporary and historical issues in the the Middle East. Topics covered include Islamic economies, leaders, monarchs, historiography, and Jewish and Islamic civilizations. (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: An assessment of the Iran-Iraq War covering its origins, impact and contexts. The book is recommended for most libraries and would be useful for scholars of Iranian and Iraqi affairs.