Now available in paperback, this sweeping and authoritative narrative is essential reading in the study of the conflict in Iraq that has plagued the first decade of the 20th century. A unique and thorough study, it places the Iraq War in the context of US foreign policy since Vietnam, casting the conflict as a chapter in a much broader story of US and allied forces' diplomatic and military moves in the region. In a disturbing account, Gardner shows how the Iraq War is a necessary outcome of doomed US policies.

Now available in paperback, this sweeping and authoritative narrative is essential reading in the study of the conflict in Iraq that has plagued the first decade of the 20th century. A unique and thorough study, it places the Iraq War in the context of US foreign policy since Vietnam, casting the conflict as a chapter in a much broader story of US and allied forces' diplomatic and military moves in the region. In a disturbing account, Gardner shows how the Iraq War is a necessary outcome of doomed US policies.