{"title":"History--Middle East--Iraq","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"the-achilles-trap-saddam-hussein-the-c-i-a-and-the-origins-of-americas-invasion-of-iraq","title":"The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq","description":"\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eWashington Post \u003c\/i\u003eNotable Book - Named a Best Book of the Year by \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker - \u003c\/i\u003eNominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Excellent . . . A more intimate picture of the dictator's thinking about world politics, local power and his relationship to the United States than has been seen before.\" --\u003ci\u003eThe \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Another triumph from one of our best journalists.\" \u003cb\u003e--\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Voluminously researched and compulsively readable.\" \u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eAir Mail\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Steve Coll, the definitive story of the decades-long relationship between the United States and Saddam Hussein, and a news-breaking investigation into one of the costliest geopolitical conflicts of our time. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhen the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, its message was clear: Iraq, under the control of strongman Saddam Hussein, possessed weapons of mass destruction that, if left unchecked, posed grave danger to the world. But when no WMDs were found, the United States and its allies were forced to examine the political and intelligence failures that had led to the invasion and the occupation, and the civil war that followed. One integral question has remained unsolved: Why had Saddam seemingly sacrificed his long reign in power by giving the false impression that he had hidden stocks of dangerous weapons? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Achilles Trap \u003c\/i\u003emasterfully untangles the people, ploys of power, and geopolitics that led to America's disastrous war with Iraq and, for the first time, details America's fundamental miscalculations during its decades-long relationship with Saddam Hussein. Calling on unpublished and underreported sources, interviews with surviving participants, and Saddam's own transcripts and audio files, Steve Coll pulls together an incredibly comprehensive portrait of a man who was convinced the world was out to get him and acted accordingly. A work of great historical significance, \u003ci\u003eThe Achilles Trap \u003c\/i\u003eexposes how corruptions of power, lies of diplomacy, and vanity--on both sides--led to avoidable errors of statecraft, ones that would enact immeasurable human suffering and forever change the political landscape as we know it.\u003cdiv style=\"display:none\"\u003eISBN-10: 0525562281\u003cbr\u003eISBN-13: 9780525562283\u003cbr\u003eAuthor: Coll, Steve\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Penguin Books\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books","offers":[{"title":"Paperback (Feb 2025)","offer_id":46079999115461,"sku":"9780525562283","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0708\/6414\/2533\/files\/9780525562283.jpg?v=1776033501"},{"product_id":"assyria-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-worlds-first-empire","title":"Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World's First Empire","description":"\u003cb\u003eA \"sweeping, delightfully readable\" (\u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e) new history of Assyria, the ancient civilization that set the model for future empires\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e At its height in 660 BCE, the kingdom of Assyria stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. It was the first empire the world had ever seen. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In \u003ci\u003eAssyria\u003c\/i\u003e, historian Eckart Frahm tells the epic story of the Assyrian empire and its formative role in global history. Assyria's wide-ranging conquests have long been known from the Hebrew Bible and later Greek accounts. But nearly two centuries of research now permit a rich picture of the Assyrians and their empire beyond the battlefield: their vast libraries and monumental sculptures, their elaborate trade and information networks, and the crucial role played by royal women. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Although Assyria was crushed by rising powers in the late seventh century BCE, its legacy endured from the Babylonian and Persian empires to Rome and beyond. \u003ci\u003eAssyria \u003c\/i\u003eis a stunning and authoritative account of a civilization essential to understanding the ancient world and our own.\u003cdiv style=\"display:none\"\u003eISBN-10: 1541605152\u003cbr\u003eISBN-13: 9781541605152\u003cbr\u003eAuthor: Frahm, Eckart\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Basic Books\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Basic Books","offers":[{"title":"Paperback (Oct 2024)","offer_id":46080101286085,"sku":"9781541605152","price":21.84,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0708\/6414\/2533\/files\/9781541605152.jpg?v=1776034498"},{"product_id":"the-library-of-ancient-wisdom-mesopotamia-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world","title":"The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of the Modern World","description":"\u003cb\u003eA tour of an ancient library transports us to Mesopotamia, introducing us to its people, their ideas, and their humanity.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The library of Ashurbanipal, Assyria's last great king, held an astonishing collection at the forefront of knowledge in its day, from ancient traditions in religion and literature to the latest developments in magic and medicine. When the Assyrian empire fell, the library burned to the ground, and its contents, clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform writing, lay buried for thousands of years until a team of Victorian archaeologists discovered the remnants in modern-day Iraq. The clay had baked and hardened; the very fire that consumed the library had helped its texts to survive for millennia. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In \u003ci\u003eThe Library of Ancient Wisdom\u003c\/i\u003e, scholar Selena Wisnom, one of only a few hundred experts able to read cuneiform script today, guides us inside this important collection and, through its contents, brings ancient Mesopotamia and its people to life. Introducing us to Ashurbanipal and his family, scribes, astrologers, physicians, and more, Wisnom explores the library's tablets and the details they divulge about how these ancient people thought about the world. Like us, they had concerns about job security, jealous rivalries, and profound friendships, and questions about the meaning of life. Wisnom ushers us into a world where magic was commonplace, where the gods spoke to you in dreams, and where the secrets of the universe were revealed through puns--taking us to the heart of what it means to be human. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Offering a close look at a major historical landmark as well as a readable account of the world's earliest civilizations, \u003ci\u003eThe Library of Ancient Wisdom\u003c\/i\u003e lays bare the ideas, hopes, fears, and desires that survive on humble clay.\u003cdiv style=\"display:none\"\u003eISBN-10: 0226822559\u003cbr\u003eISBN-13: 9780226822556\u003cbr\u003eAuthor: Wisnom, Selena\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: University of Chicago Press\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"University of Chicago Press","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover (May 2025)","offer_id":46081076625605,"sku":"9780226822556","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0708\/6414\/2533\/files\/9780226822556.jpg?v=1776042888"},{"product_id":"at-the-center-of-the-storm-the-cia-during-americas-time-of-crisis","title":"At the Center of the Storm: The CIA During America's Time of Crisis","description":"No description available\u003cdiv style=\"display:none\"\u003eISBN-10: 0061147796\u003cbr\u003eISBN-13: 9780061147791\u003cbr\u003eAuthor: Tenet, George, Harlow, Bill\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Harper Perennial\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Paperback (Apr 2008)","offer_id":46099813826757,"sku":"9780061147791","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0708\/6414\/2533\/files\/9780061147791.jpg?v=1776645550"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.inveni.store\/collections\/history-middle-east-iraq.oembed","provider":"Inveni","version":"1.0","type":"link"}