The Prince of the Marshes: And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq

In August 2003, Rory Stewart took a taxi from Jordan to Baghdad. A Farsi-speaking British diplomat, he was soon appointed deputy governor of Amarah and then Nasiriyah, provinces in the remote, impoverished marsh region of southern Iraq. Stewart takes us inside the occupation and beyond the Green Zone, introducing us to a colourful cast of Iraqis and revealing the complexity and fragility of a society we struggle to understand.…