Table of Contents

Introduction to the 1998 Paperback Edition Note to the Reader PART ONE: THE BA'THIST POLITY 1. Institutions of Violence 2. A World of Fear 3. Ba'thism and the Masses 4. Authority PART TWO: THE LEGITIMATION OF BA'THISM 5. Pan-Arabism and Iraq 6. Formation of the Ba'th 7. The Legitimation of Iraqi Ba'thism Conclusion: The Final Catastrophe Appendix Index Chronology

About the Author

Kanan Makiya's books include The Monument: Art, Vulgarity, and Responsibility in Iraq (California, 1991), Cruelty and Silence: War, Tyranny, Uprising, and the Arab World (1993), and The Rock: A Seventh Century Tale of Jerusalem (2002).

Reviews

"[Makiya's] demolition of the monstrous aberration of the Ba'th is masterly. He shows the importance of the obsessive fabrication of 'enemies, ' and the tortuous logic that compels Saddam Hussein to maintain a state of perpetual alert against the enemies of Arabism both within and without."--Peter Sluglett, "Times Literary Supplement"