Land Between the Rivers

''Elegant, erudite, ambitious, inventive - a remarkable blend of research, imagination and first-hand experience.'' Rory Stewart '' A sweeping and superbly written epic'' Wall Street Journal ''A work of great ambition... an account that is informed, filled with insights and a cracking read too.'' Peter Frankopan Iraq is where civilisation was born, where East and West have mixed and clashed since long before Alexander, and it was here by the waters of Babylon where Judaism was born and the Sunni-Shia schism took its bloody shape. Inspired by extensive reporting from the region and a decade delving deep into its history, Land Between the Rivers chronicles Iraq''s uniquely central role on the global stage throughout the past five millennia. We begin the story with ancient Sumer and Gilgamesh building the walls of Uruk (''Iraq'') to make a great name for himself at the edge of historical time. We end it in 1958, as the last royal family of Iraq is slaughtered on the steps of a small palace in Baghdad, the most effervescent, free and promising capital in the Middle East. Bartle Bull''s remarkable, sweeping achievement reminds us that the region defined by the land between the rivers has, throughout history, played host to the contest pitting humanism against the machinations of power and fate. ''Conceptual originality and laudable ambition... Inspired by firsthand experience of the region.'' New York Times ''A sweeping and superbly written epic... He is a more compassionate, and much better informed, heir to Gertrude Bell... Throughout his account, Mr. Bull highlights the human, and humanist, threads in the political tapestry.'' Wall Street Journal ''Dazzling erudition and narrative flair come together in this superb history of Iraq... essential reading'' Justin Marozzi, author of Islamic Empires ''Panoptic, fearless and beautifully written'' Christopher de Bellaigue, author of The Lion House and The Islamic Enlightenment