Synopsis
A fascinating insight into the complexity, history and unpredictability of Iraq from Rory Stewart, bestselling author of Politics on the Edge and host of hit podcast The Rest Is Politics.
‘Devastating’ - The Sunday Times
‘Absolutely absorbing’ - Ken Loach
By September 2003, six months after the US-led invasion of Iraq, the anarchy had begun. Rory Stewart, then a young British diplomat, was appointed as the Coalition Provisional Authority's deputy governor of a province of 850,000 people in the southern marshland region. There, he and his colleagues confronted gangsters, Iranian-linked politicians, tribal vendettas and a full Islamist insurgency.
Occupational Hazards is Rory Stewart's inside account of the attempt to rebuild a nation, the errors made, the misunderstandings and insurmountable difficulties encountered. It reveals an Iraq hidden from most foreign journalists and soldiers, a rare and compelling insight that remains just as important today.
‘An extraordinarily vivid tale’ - The Guardian
‘Wonderfully observed, wise, evocative’ - The Observer
Details
18 September 2009
9780330508247Reviews
Beautifully written, highly evocative . . . a joy to read.John Simpson, journalist and author of We Chose to Speak of War and Strife
A marvellous book . . . a devastating narrative.Simon Jenkins, author of A Short History of England
Absolutely absorbing.Ken Loach
Strikes gut and brain at once.James Meek, author of The People's Act of Love
