About the Author

A native of Nasiriya, Iraq, Hussein Hussein immigrated to the USA after earning his BS degree at Baghdad University. Upon returning to Iraq to visit his dying mother, he was arrested and impressed into Saddam Hussein's "People's Army." Treated like a slave for fifteen years, he was forced to fight an unwinnable war against Iran. Eventually, he was able to return to the USA where he had previously earned an MS degree at Marshal University (WV) and a PhD at Middle Tennessee State University. Now retired, he lives with his wife, a researcher at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock.

Reviews

"Euphrates Dance is a classic story...that reveals the fear which seizes a young Iraqi man as he is taught the frailty of life under an oppressive religious cult. As the society around him descends into an underworld where humanity is stunted and where life is stripped of the basic freedoms of thought and belief, life is always fleeting. Hussein's is a magnificent story of the universal struggle for light in the shadow of dominant horror and tragedy."
-- "Noori Ali, editor-in-chief of the Germany-based Iraqi e-zine, Alakhbar"

"As it gyrates from the real to the psychological to the mystical, Euphrates Dance by Hussein Hussein is a whirling dervish of a book. It spins around Iraq, in both the present and the past. It moves from sadness to joy to sadness to joy once again. It is a unique reading experience brought to us by an author who has seen much, perhaps too much, of the world. His story will remain in your psyche for a long time."
-- "Philip Breen, Ph.D., University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas"

"Hussein Hussein's novel is thought-provoking work--especially in these times of so much unrest! Euphrates Dance gives a glimpse of a dramatically different way of life from ours, here in the U.S.A.
A must read!"
--Denise Crooks, Little Rock, Arkansas

"In Euphrates Dance, you will follow a young man whose life-long search for inner peace, abiding faith, and enduring happiness leads him into a series of traps. Early in his journey, he becomes affiliated with a group of abusive people who try to control his destiny and destroy him. Resilience brings him through his trials."
-- "N. Zaman, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas"