Wonder no more. At Michael Barone’s blog, he links to a valuable article that summarizes nearly every significant book written on any aspect of the Iraq War. What a resource.
Middle East Quarterly
Iraq in Books: Review Essay
by Michael Rubin
Spring 2007There have been three waves of Iraq-related publishing: First came the embed accounts that described the military campaign; second were examinations of prewar planning and, third, studies of the occupation. Quantity does not equal quality, though, nor does popularity correlate to accuracy. Many of the most popular books have been deeply flawed. Many authors use their Iraq narrative to promote other agendas, be they related to U.S. domestic politics, U.N. empowerment, or independence for Kurdistan. Other authors have substituted theory for fact or tried to propel their experience into the center of the Iraq policy debate. While time has already relegated much Iraq-related writing to the secondhand shelf or dustbin, several authors have produced works that will make lasting contributions, be they to future generations of war and post-conflict reconstruction planners, or scholars looking more deeply into the fabric of Iraq.
Michael Rubin is editor of the Middle East Quarterly and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Of his twenty-two months in Iraq, nine were spent as a governance advisor in the Coalition Provisional Authority.
One of the books reviewed is The Blog of War: Frontline Dispatches from Military Bloggers in Iraq and Afghanistan by Matthew Burden, proprietor of Blackfive.
If you are looking for books about Iraq, this article is a tremendous resource. I recommend starting with Blog of War and going from there. Hear directly from the soldiers on the front lines and the families they leave behind.
When we interviewed Mr. Barone I asked him about blogs and what he said was pure joy,
If I miss a day’s Washington Post I don’t find myself too far behind but if I miss a day’s Instapundit, well, I could really miss out on something important. And if I miss Maureen Dowd, well, the fact of the matter is I miss Maureen Dowd every week of the year. I read her about ten years ago and I don’t see any need to read her again.
You can listen to the interview here.