Narrating Baghdad: Representing the Truth of War in Popular Non-Fiction (Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq) (Thieves of Baghdad) (Critical Essay‪)‬

Abstract As a comparative study of Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq, by Riverbend, and Thieves of Baghdad, by Matthew Bogdanos, this paper is an exploration of the ways in which each text is marketed to a U.S. audience. Because both texts are framed as truthful, unmediated narratives about the U.S.-led war on Iraq, I examine the deployment of truth as a marketing strategy. In an investigation of the 'regime of truth' I demonstrate that the truth claim actually functions to disallow a full understanding of the layers of historical context that frame the Iraq war. A careful consideration of both texts reveals that the truth of war, when translated into narrative, is actually managed and regulated through pre-existing frameworks of knowledge (such as the category of the veiled woman or the notion that Iraq is uncivilised), which ultimately serve to reinforce common misconceptions about the Arab world.