SADDAM HUSSEIN: A Political Biography

New York, NY, U.S.A.: Free Press, The, 1991. First Edition 1st Printing. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Saddam Husssein's armies have been routed, but the world will continue to wonder just who Saddam is and how he came to exercise power. In the heat of the Gulf war, journalists and others rushed to depict him as an implacable tyrant who could not be understood by reasonable Westerners. Now, however, two specialists on Middle East history and politics have combined their expertise to write the first in-depth political biography of the man who put Iraq on a collision course with the world. Drawing on a wealth of Iraqi, Arab, Soviet, Western, and Israeli sources, including interviews with people who have had close contact with Saddam Hussein throughout his career, the book traces the meteroic transformation of an ardent nationalist and obscure Ba'th party member into an absolute dictator. Placing Hussein in the larger context of the ancient and modern Arab world and Iraqi history and traditions, Karsh and Rautsi examine the nature of the political system in which he thrived, a system built on blood and fear, betrayal and deceit. They skillfully interweave a realistic analysis of Gulf politics and history, with a penetrating inquiry into the mind of a contemporary tyrant. The authors decode the surprising and bewildering actions of Saddam Hussein, explaining how the same man could simultaneoulsy inspire his people while committing them to untold sacrifices, could be loyal and generous to a kinsman while subjecting a political opponent to unspeakable atrocities, could be alternately savage and restrained in his military decisions, and could appeal to international law at the same time that he was violating it. This authoritative biography, the first to tell the full story of the Gulf crisis and the war through the lens of Hussein himself, is essential for understanding one of the most confounding leaders of modern times, as well as the events he set in motion and their long-term consequences. Fine, first edition, first printing, in fine, mylar-protected dust jacket.[Not remainder-marked or price-clipped] BIOS1