About this title: Stewart chronicles his 11 months of negotiating hostage releases, holding elections, and splicing together some semblance of an infrastructure in an impoverished region of southern Iraq.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Harcourt
Date Published: 7/26/2006
ISBN-13:9780151012350ISBN:0151012350
Description: Good. 0151012350 Ex Library copy in lightly circulated condtion with usual stamps, stickers and library markings. Pages are unmarked-We provide prompt shipping and delivery confirmations-All items are guaranteed. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harvest Books
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780156032797ISBN:0156032791
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Cover has very minor wear, pages are clean and unmarked. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 405 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harvest Books
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780156032797ISBN:0156032791
Description: New. No dust jacket as issued. Brand new in excellent condition, this book is NOT a remainder! Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 405 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. great copy. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 405 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: 405pp. illus. paperback 8vo: near Fine [ink gift inscription on hafl-title p.; else nrF] A much praised memoir of the British author's tenure as deputy governor of Amara and then Nasiriyah provinces in the marsh regions of southern Iraq. read more
"Rory Stewart follows his incredible memoir Places In Between with the re-telling of his role in the Iraq reconstruction government immediately after the Iraq invasion after 2003. Stewart by hook and crook hitches form Jordan to Iraq and somehow gets himself a gig Colonial governor of an Iraqi province though he is 34 and speaks no Arabic. His story is an incredible recounting of the dangers, and intrigue in CPA efforts to build out Iraq. Like his previous book, one can't help to conclude that our understanding of the cultures of the Middle East is simplistic at best, dangerously naive at worst."
"It is the story of a young American in Iran. He was sent to teach the Iraq people how to govern themselves. This was very hard to do because of all of the different factions and tribes involved. It really opened by eyes about the problems that will come with developing a democracy in Iraq."
"When last we were with Mr. Rory Stewart he was at home in Scotland after completing his hike across Afghanistan. Now he turns up working with the British Foreign Office as deputy government coordinator of Maysan Province in Iraq (under the Coalition Provisional Authority). At the outset, Stewart actually is the guy in charge. This is not compelling reading. There is a long cast on one-dimensional characters. "Prince" is faintly tickling along the way of course, and instructive. It is a facet of the Iraq war we have only barely seen. A reader recognizes important reasons why one should not invade another land, dismantle its government and governmental agencies from top to bottom, dissolve all civil service agencies including police and then attempt to put everything together once again in a democratic mold which is unfamiliar to the people most involved and concerned."
"This is a good book. A different perspective on the early days after the Iraq invasion, this time a first-person account from a British diplomat who essentially ran certain provinces for extended periods of time, as provisional governor and later deputy-governor, both times, of Maysan and Dhi Qar.
There is plenty of sardonic British humor, which made it fairly easy to get through, and though I can't say I tracked along with all of the endless (and inevitably inscrutable Arab) names and organizations, the author probably did the best job one could at molding all that info into interesting reading most of the time.
I sympathized with the author's plight in trying to bring more order to the general instability of a post-invasion country, without inadvertantly making things worse by who-knows-what that might insult some random soul and stir up the pot. I would never in a million years have enough patience to suffer so many "fools" gladly-of course, the author is always honest about his own feelings during many of his frustrating encounters with his Iraqi counterparts (let alone some of the ridiculous squabbling going on amongst many Coalition "partners"). Those blunt humorous asides and personal reflections made this a much better read than I imagine it might've been."
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