Includes bibliography and index.

Ancient Mesopotamia, world heritage under threat / Mcguire Gibson -- Baghdad in the golden age / Shams C. Inati -- The question of the "artificiality" of Iraq as a nation-state / Hala Fattah -- Iraqi contemporary art / May Muzaffar -- The performance of traditional music in Baghdad / Scheherazade Qassim Hassan -- Iraq's literary contributions / Hussein N. Kadhim -- Society and culture of Iraq and Iran / Thomas M. Ricks -- The Iraqi Christian community / Shams C. Inati -- Notes on the Jews of Iraq / Meer S. Basri -- The Iraqi Shiʻas / Joyce N. Wiley -- The Kurdish issue / Edmund Ghareeb -- Assault on Iraq's environment / Rania Masri -- Sanctions and the economy / Abbas Alnasrawi -- Women, gender relations, and sanctions in Iraq / Nadje al-Ali -- Water and oil never mix except in the Middle East / Atif Kubursi-- The U.S.'s undeclared war against Iraq / Elsayed M. Omran -- America's war against Iraq, 1990-2002 / Naseer Aruri.