Series foreword / Frank W. Thackeray and John E. Findling -- Acknowledgments -- Timeline of historical events -- The land and people of Iraq -- The cradle of civilization -- Babylonia -- The Muslim conquest -- The Ottoman Empire -- The British occupation -- The kingdom of Iraq and the revolution of 1958 -- A decade of revolutions and the rise of Saddam -- A decade of wars: the Iran-Iraq war and the first Gulf War -- Sanctions, the second Persian Gulf War and Iraq today -- Glossary -- Notable people in the history of Iraq -- Bibliographic essay -- Index.