The writers include journalists (such as Milton Viorst of the New Yorker), academics (such as Efraim Karsh of King's College London) and even a couple of "adventurers" (such as Freya Stark). The articles were well-chosen and from the first page to the last I was learning new things about Iraq, the Middle East, and politics and international relations in general. For example, while I had a vague idea about Kurds and Sunnis and Shiites before, now I really understand the historical tensions between the groups, the key figures involved and the future implications for the country. "Inside Iraq" achieves what it sets out to do, providing an excellent introduction to a country that claims much of our attention these days. Whether you are a hawk or a dove or are undecided, you'll benefit from reading this book. The articles do sometimes overlap, but it was actually nice to hear the story from another writer's perspective. Likewise, a few pieces were dated, but it was interesting to see what was known/believed at the time.
On the down side, there are an inexcusable number of typographical errors, which I am confident did not appear in the original versions of the articles (if the essay by Tony Horwitz is anything to go by). For example: "Hussein does not lake [take] criticism well...Ibrahim suggested that Hussein step dawn [down] temporarily in order to pave the way far [for] a negotiated cease-fire...Whether or not this incident actually task [took] place..." Ugh. To find so many errors in one chapter would be bad enough, but on one page? One can only conclude that transcription of the articles was done electronically, and whether for reasons of budget or time no human was involved in proofreading the final document.
Biographies of Miller and Kenedi are not provided, but in addition to this book they have edited "Inside Islam", "Inside Israel" and the somewhat less impressive sounding "Muhammad Ali: Ringside" and "San Francisco Stories".
