Elvis Is Titanic: Classroom Tales from Iraqi Kurdistan (Vintage) [Paperback]

Ian Klaus (Author)

Book Description

Series: Vintage | Publication Date: September 9, 2008

In the spring of 2005, twenty-five-year-old Rhodes Scholar Ian Klaus took a semester-long appointment at Salahaddin University in Arbil, the largest city in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Officially he was there to lecture on American history and to teach English. Unofficially he was there because he felt obliged, as a young American, to help make Iraq a stable and successful country. With assignments from Elvis to Ellington, baseball to Tocqueville, Klaus strives to illuminate the American way for students far more attuned to our pop culture than to our national ideals. Klaus's account of his unusual opportunity offers an astonishingly frank glimpse of life in the other Iraq after Saddam.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rhodes scholar Klaus chronicles a 2005 semester spent teaching the English language and U.S. history in Arbil, showing that the semiautonomous, historically distinct region of Iraqi Kurdistan also experiences many of the contrasts, tensions and challenges facing Iraq as a whole in the post-Saddam years. Hoping to give his students a better understanding of the actions and character of the United States, Klaus leads discussions of African-American history and pop culture that invite both teacher and students to consider how American history might inform the problems and decisions facing the ethnically, religiously and politically divided Iraqis. Although well liked, Klaus finds his perspective frequently challenged by his students. The reader, too, might question the otherwise keen-eyed Klaus's largely unexamined faith in free markets, elections and the good intentions of U.S. foreign policy, this last leading him to dismiss specific questions about Bush administration ties to the oil industry as unanswerable questions of conspiracy or fanciful tales of oil grabs. Nonetheless, these vignettes and profiles add welcome depth to the too homogenous image of the Kurds and Kurdish nationalism in the Western media. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

In January 2005, after the first election in Iraq following the American occupation, Klaus began teaching American history and English at Salahaddin University in Arbil. A 26-year-old Rhodes scholar, Klaus was inspired by the curiosity of young Americans about the culture of the Middle East and the spirit of volunteerism of those wanting to do something more than fight in the war. So Klaus went among the Kurds. What he found were people equally curious about American culture, mostly holding favorable opinions but furious about the occupation and hungry for the opportunities that came with English-language skills. Negotiating checkpoints and the occasional explosive blast, Klaus adapted to the cultural mix. Young men interrupted prayer to answer cell phones; heavily made-up young women refused to shake hands for religious reasons. Klaus chose texts from disparate American voices, including Thomas Jefferson, Walt Whitman, and Elvis Presley. In this engaging book, Klaus places his experience within the broader context of history, philosophy, and religion tied into the relationship between the U.S. and the Middle East. Bush, Vanessa --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; Reprint edition (September 9, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307276899
• ISBN-13: 978-0307276896
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,803,938 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended, August 30, 2007

By 

Mertha "Pea lover" (Princeton, NJ, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elvis Is Titanic: Classroom Tales from the Other Iraq (Hardcover)

This is an excellent book: intelligent, incisive and entertaining. I learnt a lot about Iraqi Kurdistan (a part of Iraq we usually don't hear so much about), but also about American culture and values. In fact, it is the interplay between American values and how they are received in Kurdistan that makes this book so interesting. Plus, many of the classroom stories are just hilarious...

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Elvis Is Titanic Is a Great Read, November 11, 2007

By 

The Bodhiman "The Bodhiman" (USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Elvis Is Titanic: Classroom Tales from the Other Iraq (Hardcover)

A fresh and remarkably insightful look at what's going on in the Kurdish section of Iraq through the eyes and writing of a fresh and insightful young man for whom we can credit courage, respect and talent. His characters are real and interesting, as is he and the manner in which he shares with us his experiences with them. We should be reading more in the future from Ian Klaus.

3.0 out of 5 stars Could have been great book if not for choppy writing!, November 18, 2010

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Minehava (PA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Elvis Is Titanic: Classroom Tales from Iraqi Kurdistan (Vintage) (Paperback)

Over the last 13 years I have spent 3 months every year with my in-laws, Iraqi Kurds in Erbil. So from my informed opinion I must say that the book is accurate about many points.
But having said that, I must also add that the writing in this book is choppy and most points and ideas get lost in endless descriptions and rambling. This book needs a good editor that will organize the thoughts that are scattered and disorganized. Also though it is very informative about the culture for the average American, I found the book lacking in depth. There is no brief history of the Kurds that would give the readers deeper understanding of the culture, politic and the demographic. And without those you can't understand just how wonderful the Kurds truly are and how different they are from the rest of Iraqis who are not Indo-Europeans but Arabs by origin.