Baghdad

October 15, 2014
Pertinent, patient study of the tumultuous history of this strategic city since its founding in 762.British foreign correspondent Marozzi (The Way of Herodotus: Travels with the Man Who Invented History, 2008, etc.) has experience living in the "slaughterhouse" that Baghdad has become since the mid-2000s. In fact, sectarian violence has plagued the city since its creation as the new capital by the victorious Abbasid caliph al-Mansur. Eclipsing the Sunni Islam capital at Damascus and sending the Umayyad dynasty into exile, the new Shia-based Abbasid leaders chose the ancient Mesopotamian site between the Tigris and Euphrates for its central location and fertile land. The city's name might be from Persian, meaning "founded by God," yet Mansur preferred the name Dar as Salam, or "house of peace," which would prove heavily ironic even for the murderous Mansur, who had a storehouse of corpses of his enemies. Originally constructed as a walled, round city, it soon expanded across the Tigris. Following Mansur's death in 775, Baghdad would endure nearly 40 Abbasid caliphs, many enjoying splendid building projects and cultural efflorescence-e.g., the prosperous reign of Harun al-Rashid, immortalized in A Thousand and One Nights. The Mongol raids descended on the city from the mid-1200s onward, followed by Persia in 1508 and the Ottomans in 1528, who would remain until 1917. Yet despite the turbulence and frequent destruction, Baghdad remained a "bustling emporium," with a thriving Jewish population as well. Marozzi has sifted through the numerous tales of travelers throughout the centuries, and he also makes use of the rich British accounts, which saw the city's opening to outsiders by the mid-1800s. Indeed, the British introduced a succession of colorful characters-e.g., Sir Stanley Maude, who wrested the city from the Turks, and Gertrude Bell, champion of modern Iraq and preserver of its antiquities. A useful, relevant history of a "relentlessly tempestuous" city.

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November 15, 2014

Journalist and writer Marozzi lived in Baghdad for ten years after the American invasion and was moved by the vicious internecine fighting to investigate the history of this once great city. Baghdad occupied the center of the vast Abbasid Empire (750-1258 CE) and was the richest and most powerful metropolis in the world. Artistic and commercial vitality persisted as the dynasty weakened, but after the city was razed by Mongol and Tatar attacks in the next two centuries, it suffered war, floods, and disease. Marozzi delights in the achievements of the Abbasids and enlivens his detailed chronicle with creative and intellectual activities characterizing a confident, gracious society. Efforts at modernization in the 19th century and political independence in the 20th century could not restore earlier glories, and, instead produced repression and disorder, culminating in the megalomania of Saddam Hussein, ongoing war, and urban decay. The author interviewed many Baghdad residents to produce a portrait of this city, conveying the lushness of a dominant past and the despair of a violent and chaotic present. VERDICT As an integration of political, economic, and military achievements with a vibrant cultural portrait that weaves poetry, literature, and the arts, this recommended history is contrasted with a contemporary society characterized by brutal repression of "enemies" of all kinds. The historical sweep is fascinating, if not finely balanced.--Elizabeth Hayford, formerly with Associated Coll. of the Midwest, Evanston, IL

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Starred review from November 15, 2014
For the past decade, the city of Baghdad has been the source of uniformly negative news accounts. Now threatened by the forces of the so-called Islamic Caliphate, Baghdad has also been at the center of sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shias. The plague of bloodletting was so constant that citizens joked that a fat fish dinner was the result of feasting upon the corpses regularly dumped in the Tigris River. Marozzi, a journalist and travel writer, shows there is so much more to the often brilliant but often tumultuous history of the city. Founded in 762 CE, Baghdad quickly became the jewel of the Abbasid Caliphate. The diverse population of the city, a mix of Arabs, Persians, Jews, and Christians, fostered a literary, scientific, and architectural renaissance that became the stuff of legend, in both the Muslim and Christian worlds. Yet, as Marozzi illustrates, even at the height of the cultural splendor, the city was racked by dynastic rivalry and palace intrigue leading to horrific violence. Baghdad sunk to its nadir after the Mongol invasion in the thirteenth century, followed by Tamerlane's pilgrimage of destruction in the early fifteenth century. Marozzi pays tribute to the endurance and vibrancy of the city and its citizens, despite these setbacks, in this fine combination of history and travel genres.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)