Details
Synopsis
Before his murder in 2004, Ahmad Shawkat represented the best and the brightest of Iraq's citizenry. Under Saddam Hussein, Ahmad, a university lecturer, was imprisoned and tortured. Following the arrival of the American forces, he took a job as an interpreter for NPR correspondent Michael Goldfarb, and after that founded a newspaper, in which he freely (perhaps too freely) wrote about his hopes for a new Iraq. Goldfarb recalls his fallen comrade and their shared exploits in his memoir, AHMAD'S WAR, AHMAD'S PEACE. "When a reporter finds a good translator, it is a beautiful thing," says Goldberg, and he recounts the many instances when Ahmad Shawkat clarified the complexities of Iraqi life and helped him negotiate some tight situations in the war zone. As their friendship developed, Goldberg learned much about his outspoken and bold colleague. This information comprises a large section of the book; Goldberg captures his friend's speech and, through his life story, contextualizes the history of Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Perhaps the dreams of one brave man for a free Iraq do not live on beyond him, but this portrait of Ahmad Shawkat presents him not as larger than life, but as he was. A New York Times Notable Book of the Year for 2005.
| Size | | Length: | 354 pages | | Height: | 8.5 in | | Width: | 5.8 in | | Thickness: | 1.2 in | | Weight: | 19.2 oz |
Publisher's Notes
First Line: "The war started on schedule. From the moment it was first mooted in leaks to The New York Times in July 2002 you could have predicted it would start around the end of February or middle of March 2003. After all, there was the precedent of the first Gulf War in 1990-91."
Industry Reviews
"One of the best of the many books to emerge from the Iraqi invasion."
Kirkus (06/01/2005)
"[A] sad and necessary book that distills all of the country's blighted hopes in one man. Shawkat, a cantankerous Iraqi intellectual, was one of the good guys."
New York Times Book Review - Dexter Filkins (10/30/2005)
"[This book] should be read by anyone who wants to understand the bitter disappointment felt by liberal Iraqis as the hope for a better future after Saddam vanished, thanks both to American incompetence and the indigenous forces unleashed by the invasion."
(08/10/2006)
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