Customer Reviews

A Modern History of the Kurds

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The tragic history of the Kurds, with regards to their internecine politics vis-a-vis the various tribes, and more importantly their use as a pawn by larger states in the harsh realpolitik of the region has been captured in this extraordinary book. From the Treaty of Sevres, which offered a glimmer of hope to the Kurds for statehood, to the Treaty of Lausanne, which ultimately marked the end of any Great Power support for statehood aspirations, the book creates a remarkable story.
Following WWI, and with the subsequent jockeying for power in the region following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, McDowall presents a clear pattern of failure by the Kurds to coalesce and create a common front to articulate their views. Also presented is the similarly clear pattern by the states, which currently have Kurdish populations, to disenfranchise the Kurds and marginalize their political aspirations.
This history covers the fallout from the Coalition war against Iraq (Operation DESERT STORM). I would love to see a more current version of the book which discusses how the current status quo has refueled Kurdish aspirations for autonomy...likewise I would like to see how recent events in Turkey have affected the Kurdish population of SE Turkey.
A great book for both the casual reader of the history of this volatile region of the world, and for the scholar alike...Highly recommended. McDowall has penned the authoratitive modern history.

Very detailed description of the modern history of kurds. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the history of the kurds.

The only shortcoming of the book is that it stops in the year 1996. And thus does not account for the capture of Abdullah Ocalan, the leader PPK, and other major new incidents. Nevertheless, you will learn a lot!

Although the authorhas cut some of the subjects very short such as Kurdish language and excluded Yezidi and LUR from Kurdish nationality,he is very detailed in the history of the last century of Kurdistan in amanner i have never seen.I truly encourage every Kurd,Turk,Persian, and Arab to read this Treasure.I also would like to get in touch with Mr Mcdowall to discuss the possibility of translating it into either Kurdish or Arabic.

The book is fair and illuminating in giving us a Kurdish side of Turkish, Iraqi and Iranian history. It's an important story, full of significant sub-plots. For just one example, McDowall explains that after Saddam nationalized Iraq's oil in 1972, Kurdish rebels like Mulla Mustafa feared that "Kurdish oil would be turned into Arab oil". They still wanted 2/3rds of all oil revenue reserved for the Kurdish community, and now they sought support from the United States. As the Pike Papers revealed in 1976, Henry Kissinger argued that "a new regime might let us back into the oilfields". In 1973 Mulla Mustafa threw secrecy to the winds by announcing in the Washington Post,

"We are ready to act according to US policy if the US will protect us from the wolves. In the event of sufficient support we should be able to control the Kirkuk oilfields and confer exploitation rights on an American company."