Land Between the Rivers
A 5000-Year History of Iraq
Published on 5. June 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
576 pages
978-1-83895-787-2 (ISBN)
Description
'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
'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
Reviews / Votes
Elegant, erudite, ambitious, inventive - a remarkable blend of research, imagination and first-hand experience. * Rory Stewart * A work of great ambition that sets out five millennia of the history of one of the great cradles of global civilisations. Bartle Bull has done a fantastic job to explain how the land between the rivers had shaped local, regional and global affairs - and used his deep knowledge of contemporary Iraq to produce an account that is informed, filled with insights and a cracking read too.' * Peter Frankopan, bestselling author of The Silk Roads and The Earth Transformed * Conceptual originality and laudable ambition... Inspired by firsthand experience of the region... A sweeping history. * New York TImes * A sweeping and superbly written epic... Bull makes good use of recent research but his view of the region is unencumbered by academic fashion. 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. Bartle Bull has travelled the length and breadth of the country, he has toiled away in libraries and archives, and the result is a grand, sweeping book, full of insight and brimming with all the agonies and ecstasies which have befallen the cradle of civilization during its tumultuous 5,000-year story. Land Between The Rivers is essential reading' * Justin Marozzi, author of Islamic Empires * Iraq's history is that of much of human civilization and to do it justice in a single volume requires a combination of learning, discernment and flair that few possess. Bartle Bull is one of the few. Panoptic, fearless and beautifully written' * Christopher de Bellaigue, author of The Lion House and The Islamic Enlightenment * Succeeds in weaving this daunting welter of material into a work that is not just clear and coherent, but also enthralling and thought-provoking... He [...] makes excellent use of the journalist's skill of picking out a telling personal story to illustrate the wider picture... [A] masterly work of compression... Bull's enjoyable book encourages us to think more about a place that has made profound contributions to humanity and retains a geopolitical and cultural significance that we neglect at our peril. * Literary Review * Bull conveys the excitement of uncovering new intellectual treasures for the reader... Engaging research and bottomless detail by an avid observer and student of the region. * Kirkus * A sweeping and superbly written epic... Throughout his account, Mr. Bull highlights the human, and humanist, threads in the political tapestry. -- Dominic Green * Wall Street Journal *More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 37 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-83895-787-2 (9781838957872)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
08/2024
Atlantic Books
€13.99
Available for download
Person
Bartle Bull is a former editor of the Middle East Monitor and foreign editor of Prospect magazine. He has written from the Middle East for the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Daily Telegraph, Foreign Policy, Die Welt and other publications. His work, widely syndicated in Europe and the United States, has been featured in Corriere della Sera, International Herald Tribune, Los Angeles Times and elsewhere. He has appeared many times on radio and television and is most frequently a guest on Fox Business News; he has also appeared on the BBC, NPR, Fox News and Al Jazeera.
Content
Chapter 1: "In Search of the Wind" Chapter 2: The Father of Many Chapter 3: Babylon and Assyria Chapter 4: Persians, Greeks, and Jews Chapter 5: Aristotle in Babylon Chapter 6: The Hellenistic East Chapter 7: Borderland Chapter 8: Sword of Allah Chapter 9: At War Forever: The Bloody Schism in Islam Chapter 10: The Umayyad Caliphate and the Abbasid Revolution Chapter 11: High Noon Chapter 12: The Abbasid World Chapter 13: Slave Girls and Reason Chapter 14: Mayhem from the Steppes Chapter 15: Shadows of God on the Earth Chapter 16: Mighty Ruins in the Midst of Deserts Chapter 17: Raw Sunlight and Hurrying Storms Chapter 18: Independence