The Wake of War : Encounters in Iraq and Afghanistan
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
In the spring of 2003, acclaimed journalist Anne Nivat set off from Tajikistan on a six-month journey through the aftermath of the American invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. As with her prizewinning work reporting the lives of ordinary Chechens during their war, Nivat felt compelled to meet and write about the lives of everyday people-not just the voices at the center of the conflict, but also those in small towns and along roadways. She spoke to engineers and teachers, ex-military men and rising leaders, an actor and a former Taliban member; she stayed with Kurdish and Shi'a and Turkoman families; and all along the way, she recorded their stories. We meet Hamid, a prosperous engineer who rails against the United States and against Afghanistan's passive cooperation with the superpower. A powerful warlord keeps an extraordinary rose garden in the midst of the desert, and an Afghani gynecologist, having devoted her life to the health of Afghan women, has never touched even the hand of a man. In Iraqi Kurdistan we learn that hummus is unknown and see the after-effects of Saddam Hussein's policy of Arabization: one young Kurdish leader declares that "The Arabs are barbarians by nature, their culture is nothing but thievery, looting, and killing!" In Iraqi Kurdistand we learn that hummus is unknown and see the aftereffects of Saddam Hussein's policy of Arabization: One young Kurdish leader declares that "the Arabs are barbarians by nature; their culture is nothing but thievery, looting, and killing!" But in Kirkuk, a Turkoman claims the Kurds behave "just like the dictator who oppressed them." Near Basra we meet Adnan Karim Bhaya, an ex-admiral who proudly recounts his battles against the Iranians and later against British allied troops, but who now finds himself stripped of his military status and living on his wife's salary.
About the Author
Anne Nivat is an award-winning journalist and author. She covered the Chechen war for the French daily Lib象tion and is currently the Moscow correspondent for Ouest-France. Nivat has written pieces for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the International Herald Tribune and has appeared on NPR's Fresh Air, The Connection, and PBS's NewsHour, as well as other radio and TV programs.
The Wake of War: Encounters in Iraq and Afghanistan,Anne Nivat,Beacon Press,0807002402,2001-,2003-,Afghanistan,Asia - General,History,History - General History,History: World,Iraq,Middle East - General,Military - Iraq War,Asian / Middle Eastern history: postwar, from c 1945 -,History / Middle East,USA,Warfare & Defence
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