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Independent Iraq: British Influence from 1941-1958 (Library of Modern Middle East Studies, 11)

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This book provides a thoroughly detailed analysis of the accomplishments and failures of Iraqi government from the British occupation during WWII until the fall of the monarchy. The author makes a compelling argument that the British foreign office heavily influenced the Iraqi monarchy during this period. This influence enabled the British to exercise a considerable measure of control over the politics and policies of Iraqi government, perhaps to a greater extent even than during the earlier British Mandate. However, the Iraqi king was not a puppet. He frequently disregarded the advice of the British and prominent Iraqi politicians, sometimes at his own peril.

The work also sheds some light on the causes of the military coup that brought down the monarchy. This is not the coup that brought the Baathist regime to power-- that did not occur until ten years later. This book is worth reading for anyone interested in recent Middle Eastern history and in the remote origins of current Iraqi political issues.