Faisal I of Iraq
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- £25.99
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- £25.99
Publisher Description
Born in 1883, King Faisal I of Iraq was a seminal figure not only in the founding of the state of Iraq but also in the making of the modern Middle East. In all the tumult leading to the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of new Arab states, Faisal was a central player. His life traversed each of the important political, military, and intellectual developments of his times. This comprehensive biography is the first to provide a fully rounded picture of Faisal the man and Faisal the monarch. Ali A. Allawi recounts the dramatic events of his subject’s life and provides a reassessment of his crucial role in developments in the pre– and post–World War I Middle East and of his lasting but underappreciated influence in the region even 80 years after his death. A battle-hardened military leader who, with the help of Lawrence of Arabia, organized the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire; a leading representative of the Arab cause, alongside Gertrude Bell, at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919; a founding father and king of the first independent state of Syria; the first king of Iraq—in his many roles Faisal overcame innumerable crises and opposing currents while striving to build the structures of a modern state. This book is the first to afford his contributions to Middle East history the attention they deserve.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Allawi (The Occupation of Iraq), Iraq's first postwar civilian Minister of Defense, examines the foundations of Iraq through a sympathetic portrait of one of its founders, King Faisal I. He portrays the king as a pragmatist and moderate who maintained an unstinting commitment to the emancipation of his people amid the disruptions of European colonialism and the birth of Arab nationalism. Avoiding hagiography, Allawi's praise is at times faint: despite a lurid smear campaign implying the opposite, he writes that "Faisal himself did not openly philander"; and evaluating Faisal's comical efforts to adapt to London high society, he suggests that these instances "could be read as a caricature of the potentate from a backward land absurdly mimicking western ways," but that his political instincts were nevertheless top-notch. Allawi points out that Faisal's reign was engineered by T.E. Lawrence, who threatened to resign from the Foreign Service if he didn't get his way. Closer to a linear narrative of its subject's life and times than a groundbreaking work of historical scholarship, the events help us to understand the nature of modern-day Iraq. This tome will hold the interest of both general readers and specialists, and is notable for being the first full-length biography of the monarch written in English.
