A masterpiece that descruibes the historical context and the motivations of the different groups that participated in the Lebanese civil war. Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand Lebanon, its 15year civil war, and some of the background behind the conflict in the Middle East.

The author describes the life and culture of lebanese people in a hystorical review. Objective book that explains the political situation in depth.

This book does an outstanding job of introducing the reader to the sometimes difficult to understand contemporary world of the Arabs. Mackey manages to blend the Arabs' seperate histories with their present realities to give the reader a clear understanding of this region. Her style is clear, concise and very readable. Anyone curious about the Arab world should read this book.

Mrs. Mackey is the most authoritative source on affairs in the Middle East that I have ever encountered. It is a semi-difficult read, in that the names and genealogies are difficult to keep straight, but she makes a difficult subject read like a work of fiction. Anyone who wants to know of this region will find that book will be of immeasurable help to him or her.

The subtitle of "The Reckoning" is somewhat misleading, billing itself as being about "Iraq and the Legacy of Saddam Hussein," when nearly half of the book's length is devoted to Iraq's history BEFORE "The Butcher of Baghdad" came to power. Nevertheless, it still works quite well as a one volume overview and comes at a very critical time in which the U.S. is again considering military action against the country. It also chillingly portrays the trajedy that has befallen this turbulent country because of its unfortunate history and outlaw leadership.

The book mostly consists of historical accounts drawn from other sources. Author Sandra Mackey did in fact visit Iraq while researching it, but she was very limited in where she could go or who she could talk to. Her first person accounts of Saddam's totalitarian society are brief, but chilling in their implications. Mackey uses them as a backdrop for her straightforward account of Iraqi history from Mesopitamina times until the present. The story is a tragic one, of course, made even more so by the fact that the country enjoyed a brief period of prosperity before Saddam plunged it into the nightmares of the Iran/Iraq war, the Gulf War and internal genocides against the Shia and Kurd populations.

Mackey is a very good writer, and for the most part her prose is crisp and readable. On the downside, she repeats herself a bit too much, and at nearly 400 pages the narrative lags a little at times. Nevertheless, Mackey has provided a valuable service by giving Americans (and other Westerners) the chance to catch up on a subject that seems about to rivet the wrold's attention once again. For that, I give it an enthusiastic recommendation.

In The Reckoning, author Sandra Mackey gives us a historical and current view of the nation of Iraq. By doing so, she points out that any attempt at governance will be met with fierce opposition from diverse groups that were, more or less, randomly placed together.

The book begins with the creation of the state of Iraq, which I found is not an Iraqi creation. The name is not even an Iraqi creation. From the book, the British organized the areas of Basra, Baghdad, and Mosul into what we know of as Iraq. Every leader since the creation of the state has struggled to build a state where all the different groups think of themselves as Iraqi.

Oil made the Iraqi state successful. Saddam Hussein and his party moved in power to benefit from that wealth, but they realized quickly that for them to maintain control, they have to be ruthless. Saddam has a long history of this.

After reading this book, the articles I read in the newspaper and the news segments I see on TV make more sense to me. I would highly recommend reading this book. This is a very enlightening read.

The Reckoning: Iraq and the Legacy of Saddam Hussein by Sandra Mackey

This book provides an extremely important ability to understand the dynamics of Iraq, especially related to a war with consequences not limited to Iraq, but to the whole Middle East and may escalate beyond. The authors states "the road to Baghdad must lead through Jerusalem". Because the writing is so good, this is a very readable book.

The scholarship on the history of the region and Islam, and the development of the post WWI state is essential to the understanding of Iraq and the role of Saddam Hussein. The author traces this history and brings it to the present dilemma. This book chronicles Saddam Hussein's well orchestrated control over his country from the time of his accession to today in light of the various ethnic and religious groups and his strong tribal/military strengths. Control was achieved using techniques of a modern state; economic controls, environmental manipulation, genocide, and removal of the dissenting press and religious leaders resulting in lost of an educated population and alternatives for government.

The last chapter is provocative and terrifying. The author makes the case that removing Hussein will not alone solve the major issues, and may escalate the Arab/Israel conflict with the developed world losing essential oil supplies and potentially the elimination of Israel. The case is made that solutions on Palestine must be part of the Iraq policy. One can debate what that policy should be, but the author suggests that the U.S. has behaved at best as naïve and at worst as manipulative and destructive to the Arab world.

The book shows that the U.S. must look beyond the elimination of Hussein to the larger view of the consequences and methods to ensure stability in the region. She questions if a large U.S. (UN) military force in Iraq would ensure oil production, minimize the conflict with Israel, and eventually produce a democratic nation representing the major ethnic religious groups. The author shows that even with a very large police action, these goals may be nearly impossible.

To the world, the only U.S. interest is the strategically important oil and the cruelty of Hussein, who wants to have the military power to protect his position. Without the oil, the brutality would be a minor U.S. concern as it was in the Congo. The book provides a excellent launching pad for the discussion on the long term goals in the region.

Ms. Mackey has written a decent popular overview of Iranian history that is hampered by certain limitations of focus and technique.

As the title suggests, she frames that history as an almost continuous tension between a Persian identity with a 2,500 year heritage and the later influence of Islam. As with most "grand theme" histories, she's forced to simplify the elements of the theme (reducing Persian culture and Shia Islam to a few key elements) and squeeze a complex history into this framework. Such an approach lends coherence to the book, but results in elimination of many influences and trends that would round out our view of the Iranians and their history.

For instance, I was hoping she'd delved more deeply into the various tribes whichare eoncompassed by modern Iran. She suggests that frequent tribal unrest occurred over the last 100 years, but gives us no idea of the possible competing interests and worldview of these groups.

Similarly, we get a very sketchy idea of economic history except the suggestion that resources have not been fairly divided in Iran for most of its history. Economic factors frequently can be directly related to revolutionary activity, but we find only hints of this from Mackey. There are other threads I wish she had taken up as well.

What we do get is a decently written trip through 2,500 years of history which hits most of the key figures and events without really delving into anything terribly deeply. The book devotes more pages as we reach modernity, but the yoke of her thesis keeps Mackey from generating a broad picture of even the 20th century. Overall, not a painful way to approach the subject, but not really satisying for anyone wanting a really in-depth history of the subject. Read it, and then read on.

Finally, a word to some of the criticism voiced below. First, Mackey doesn't strike me as terribly "orientalist," merely shallow. She seems generally sympathetic to her subjects but she doesn't really get under their skin. Her sympathy serves her especially well towards the end where she succeeds in reducing the demonization of the Iranians by modern America.

Those who suggest that she paints Persian culture in a bad light by, among other things, overemphasizing patriarchalism and failing to compare it to similar attitudes in ancient Greece and Rome seem to me to just have an axe to grind. Had this book been published by a university press and presented itself as a scholarly book, I might have agreed. But, this is clearly meant as a general POPULAR history, so those who expected more shouldn't have been surprised.

Lastly, I can't speak to the factual mistakes some people cite, but I can say that since I would only consider this an introduction to the subject at best, further reading ought to clarify any ambiguities.

I read the book when it came out in hard bound, and then again referred to it again recently in my college course work. It is a very insightful and excellent history of Iran. Although I am not Persian I did share parts of the book with Persian friends. Some had their own personal opinions on the matter, however, after reading it, I felt that Sandra Mackey gave a very good perspective. She does add some of her own personal interest and flavor, but I do not think it takes away from factual evidence.

Be prepared, it is a long book. It was a bit tough at the beginning to get going for me, but once I was into it, it was at times a page turner, and very good.

I would highly recommend this book. Anyone with an interest in the story of Iran, be it you are from the era of the Revolution (such as myself) or you are studying Middle East History (like myself) ** Keep in mind most Persians hate being referred to as Middle Easterners and as author and great lecturer Edward Said would say, that is a derogatory term. Anyway, if you find the region of interest, this book is a must read. Very well done, and one of the more detailed and interesting books I have read on Iran and the Persian History.

I found this book an excellent summarized review of iran history and revolution. I am now a US citizen but escaped from Iran 3 years after the revolution. I have lived through the Shah's era and his idea of great civilization, the revolution and the war. I started reading this book with skepticism at first. However, shortly after reading the first couple of chapters, I realized that the author has depicted the Iran history and revolution very well and to my opinion, very acurate. Even though she had to eventually interpret the situations and make conclusions, those are overall very close to the truth from a cultural and political standpoint as far as I am concerned. I believe those represents a realistic and factual interpretation of Iran culture and politics overall. I have to admit that I was very impressed by the depth of her understanding specially for a foreign author. Maybe that was her advantage since she had to look at all facts realistically with no legacy bindings to any cultural or political parties in Iran. I would highly recommend this book as a must read for Iranians who have an open mind and foreigners who would like to understand the country beyond the streotypes.

I believe two groups of Iranian people would not like the conclusions and comments in the book. The first group is the last regime's proponents including all those that got anywhere under the shah's corrupt police state. The second group are the current die-hard proponents of Velaiat-e-Faghih (Supreme Leader) as a means of governing. These groups are the two extremes of Iranian politics and culture that are both against democracy and have got used to dictatorship way of governing. Both naturally have a lot banked on their relationship with the ruling parties either Shah or the Status quo and will protect it as they have shown with the most brutal ways of suppression.

That leaves a big majority of Iranians and foreigners that will enjoy reading this book to get a realistic point of view apart from extremism. Highly recommended.

As someone who has lived in Saudi Arabia, I find Mackey's book highly innacurate and misrepresented of the Saudi people, which is probably based on her perceptions of living in a confined compound and not intimately familiar with Arabic. It is unfortunate, MacKey did not evolve her book more around interviews with women, of which she probably had unique access. There are far better books recently published on Saudi Arabia to read, especially if one seeks to understand the Saudi relationship to 9/11: These include "The Kingdom: Arabia and the House of Sa'Ud", by Robert Lacey, "Oil Monarchies: Domestic and Security Challenges in the Arab Gulf States", by Gregory Gause, and by far the definitive book on Saudi Arabian culture "Saudi Arabia and the Politics of Dissent", by Mamoun Fandy.

Actually, as a Western woman, living in Saudi Arabia for the past year, I found the book very interesting and well-balanced. It largely fits with many of my own perceptions of the country, and provided a very clear historical overview of the time between the old boom of the early seventies and the beginnings of political upheaval of the mid-eighties.

HOWEVER, although calling itself an "updated version" -- with this stamped on the cover of the book -- there is little updating apart from the 3 1/2 page Introduction and the 11 page Afterword. I was so disappointed, for example, in the chapter on The World Creeps Closer to find NO updating, at all, as this book was written during the Iran - Iraq war.

In fact, it jars the reader, because of this. The use of present tense in the chapters discussing things 15 years previous to the 2002 publication date is confusing, at best, and misleading at worst. I don't think the few pages tacked on at the beginning and the end, make up for this, unfortunately.

It seems to be cashing in on the 9/11 tragedy, with minimal effort on the part of the author and/or editors. Very disappointing, that!

This was a well written history of the country of Saudi Arabia
and the people who live there.You are able to get a concise history of the Royal family(Saud) and the Kings who have served in Saudi Arabia.One of the most interesting sections of the book
was the formation of ARAMCO.This is a consortium of the four oil companies who developed the oil industry in Saudi Arabia.Another
interesting part of the book was President Roosevelt's visit to
the country during World War II.I also got a kick about the
description of camel racing that takes place in Saudi Arabia.This
is a very good book about Saudi Arabia. It is very readable and
you will enjoy it.