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k80bowman's review against another edition
5.0
I'm actually reading the blog right now (not the book, but it's so compelling, I had to recommend the book here). I've known about the blog for a couple of years, but had never gone back and just read the whole thing, from beginning to end. I started yesterday and I can't stop. I actually had to stop reading it during breaks at work today because I was almost crying over the descriptions of some of the atrocities she describes. Read this, read this, read this.
leavingsealevel's review against another edition
4.0
I was an Iraq war protester months before the war even started. I remember getting into some particularly acrimonious arguments in fall 2002 in NYC and then Seattle, back when more than a few of your average liberals thought Saddam Hussein was coming to get them with weapons of mass destruction. I cared (and care), I argued, I spoke up, I went to protests...but I never connected with the people living the violence of my government's war and occupation on that deep level that means you can't ever look away or forget.
For those of us who don't personally know anyone in Iraq, who don't have to think about the horrors of the occupation every day whether we want to or not, Riverbend's book is a must-read. Baghdad Burning is a word-for-word publication of her blog by the same name (I really wish I'd known about the blog at the time she was writing it). Riverbend (pseudonym) mixes tales of her "ordinary" life under the occupation with on-the-ground reporting with cultural/history lessons about Iraq and Islam from her perspective. She's heartbreaking and hilarious, often in the same post. The blog picked up readers all around the world in the mid-2000s, when she was blogging from Iraq (her family left for Jordan several years ago). This collection of posts covers 2003 through September 2004.
A couple of years ago, I was talking with my dad about Iraq (right after reading [b:City of Widows an Iraqi Woman's Account of War and Resistance]), and he expressed a view I often hear: that Iraq is so "fragmented" and "tribal" that the removal of US troops would mean instant civil war and a situation far worse than any occupation could ever be. That Iraq today is what inevitably happens after the British "put together" a colony and then country that "never existed," out of people who'd hated each other since the dawn of time. That's a very neat and easy (and inaccurate) view that takes the responsibility for today's sectarian violence off the US occupation and puts it on British colonialism. Now, British colonialism was plenty awful too, but this line of reasoning has sort of become the liberal-ish American way of justifying the continued occupation, and I'm quite sick of it.
I wish I could give Baghdad Burning to everyone who thinks Iraq is a made-up country of people who've been locked in sectarian conflict for centuries, so that they could consider Riverbend's perspective. She views her family and community as fairly typical for her country. Her family is about half Sunni and half Shi'a. She has friends in both religious communities, as well as Christian and Kurdish friends. Again and again, she remarks on her country's long history of tolerance, equality, and fellowship. Seeing that break down because of a foreign occupation often seems more painful for her than the actual physical violence of the occupation.
When people are desperate--when their country is being occupied by the most powerful army in the world, when the electricity is on 3 hours a day in the scorching summer heat, when bombs rain down on civilians who've done nothing--some people will turn to extremism. They'll latch onto sectarian loyalties that never mattered before. Occupation and war and violence try their hardest to warp people and warp communities. And the architects of those atrocities often know this and use the resulting violence to justify their course of action.
Yes, Riverbend's story is only one story. She does not purport to speak for anyone other than herself, and I would be doing a great disservice to the Iraqi people and to Riverbend if I assumed she spoke for her entire country. However, we need to be listening to as many authentic Iraqi voices as possible, and basing our opinions of the occupation and our activism on those voices, rather than on the comforting stories and excuses that we pass around the US media.
For those of us who don't personally know anyone in Iraq, who don't have to think about the horrors of the occupation every day whether we want to or not, Riverbend's book is a must-read. Baghdad Burning is a word-for-word publication of her blog by the same name (I really wish I'd known about the blog at the time she was writing it). Riverbend (pseudonym) mixes tales of her "ordinary" life under the occupation with on-the-ground reporting with cultural/history lessons about Iraq and Islam from her perspective. She's heartbreaking and hilarious, often in the same post. The blog picked up readers all around the world in the mid-2000s, when she was blogging from Iraq (her family left for Jordan several years ago). This collection of posts covers 2003 through September 2004.
A couple of years ago, I was talking with my dad about Iraq (right after reading [b:City of Widows an Iraqi Woman's Account of War and Resistance]), and he expressed a view I often hear: that Iraq is so "fragmented" and "tribal" that the removal of US troops would mean instant civil war and a situation far worse than any occupation could ever be. That Iraq today is what inevitably happens after the British "put together" a colony and then country that "never existed," out of people who'd hated each other since the dawn of time. That's a very neat and easy (and inaccurate) view that takes the responsibility for today's sectarian violence off the US occupation and puts it on British colonialism. Now, British colonialism was plenty awful too, but this line of reasoning has sort of become the liberal-ish American way of justifying the continued occupation, and I'm quite sick of it.
I wish I could give Baghdad Burning to everyone who thinks Iraq is a made-up country of people who've been locked in sectarian conflict for centuries, so that they could consider Riverbend's perspective. She views her family and community as fairly typical for her country. Her family is about half Sunni and half Shi'a. She has friends in both religious communities, as well as Christian and Kurdish friends. Again and again, she remarks on her country's long history of tolerance, equality, and fellowship. Seeing that break down because of a foreign occupation often seems more painful for her than the actual physical violence of the occupation.
When people are desperate--when their country is being occupied by the most powerful army in the world, when the electricity is on 3 hours a day in the scorching summer heat, when bombs rain down on civilians who've done nothing--some people will turn to extremism. They'll latch onto sectarian loyalties that never mattered before. Occupation and war and violence try their hardest to warp people and warp communities. And the architects of those atrocities often know this and use the resulting violence to justify their course of action.
Yes, Riverbend's story is only one story. She does not purport to speak for anyone other than herself, and I would be doing a great disservice to the Iraqi people and to Riverbend if I assumed she spoke for her entire country. However, we need to be listening to as many authentic Iraqi voices as possible, and basing our opinions of the occupation and our activism on those voices, rather than on the comforting stories and excuses that we pass around the US media.
tlchand's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting perspective of a woman from Iraq and living there during the US occupation.
jlyons's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
tense
fast-paced
4.25
natasha1's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.0
bookishdea's review against another edition
5.0
This was a very interesting book. I have a love/hate relationship with books written in a blog format, but it definitely drew me in. I really enjoyed getting River's side of things, watching the invasion and the time afterwards from her point of view. She's got a great voice and now I definitely plan on searching out the sequel.
psalmcat's review against another edition
4.0
I should probably put a caveat here: I am against the continuing presence of American troops in Iraq, and have been opposed to the war for over two years. This can't help but color the way I read this book.
And another technicality: my copy of the book has a slightly different cover. The woman on my cover looks slightly older than the one in this photo, who looks (to me) younger and more Caucasian. It is the same photo, but airbrushed. Or something.
This was purportedly written by a young (24ish) Iraqi woman who calls herself Riverbend living in Baghdad before and during the war, and the ongoing upheaval since Bush declared the war "over" in April 2003. She created a blog in August of 2003 to chronicle the frustrations and annoyances of everyday life in a war-zone.
This book is a reprint of her writings from that point up though September 2004. It follows the growing fear and petty goings on in a family that seems surprisingly strong and intact considering everything the country has been through.
Whatever your feelings about the war, or her reliability, I do think it gives a clearer view of what has been happening to the people of Iraq over the past two years. She gives very short shrift to the horrors of Saddam Hussein's rule of the country, and gets increasingly angrier at the sight of American's "occupying force."
I had some qualms about the 'reality' of Riverbend--her English is far better than a lot of native English speakers, which is disconcerting, and her willingness to use electricity for blogging instead of "necessities" strikes me as odd on occasion--but the overall picture of a young person watching her country be, as she puts it on many occasions, "auctioned off" to the highest bidder (usually Haliburton) or bed led by incompetent puppets obvious placed by the U.S.
I have a whole different take on the news. I actually hear the word "insurgent" now, and think, "Insurgent, or freedom fighter? Suicide bomber, or a guy bringing a big sack of rice home from the market?"
Good, good book, although (because?) it made me angry.
[And just for an FYI, I'd kind of like to know what has happened to Riverbend since last month when she posted her last time...]
And another technicality: my copy of the book has a slightly different cover. The woman on my cover looks slightly older than the one in this photo, who looks (to me) younger and more Caucasian. It is the same photo, but airbrushed. Or something.
This was purportedly written by a young (24ish) Iraqi woman who calls herself Riverbend living in Baghdad before and during the war, and the ongoing upheaval since Bush declared the war "over" in April 2003. She created a blog in August of 2003 to chronicle the frustrations and annoyances of everyday life in a war-zone.
This book is a reprint of her writings from that point up though September 2004. It follows the growing fear and petty goings on in a family that seems surprisingly strong and intact considering everything the country has been through.
Whatever your feelings about the war, or her reliability, I do think it gives a clearer view of what has been happening to the people of Iraq over the past two years. She gives very short shrift to the horrors of Saddam Hussein's rule of the country, and gets increasingly angrier at the sight of American's "occupying force."
I had some qualms about the 'reality' of Riverbend--her English is far better than a lot of native English speakers, which is disconcerting, and her willingness to use electricity for blogging instead of "necessities" strikes me as odd on occasion--but the overall picture of a young person watching her country be, as she puts it on many occasions, "auctioned off" to the highest bidder (usually Haliburton) or bed led by incompetent puppets obvious placed by the U.S.
I have a whole different take on the news. I actually hear the word "insurgent" now, and think, "Insurgent, or freedom fighter? Suicide bomber, or a guy bringing a big sack of rice home from the market?"
Good, good book, although (because?) it made me angry.
[And just for an FYI, I'd kind of like to know what has happened to Riverbend since last month when she posted her last time...]
lilcoppertop's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
anjaszy's review against another edition
5.0
[9/11] Americans could hardly believe what had happened, but the American government brings this sort of grief upon nations annually... suddenly the war wasn't thousand of kilometers away, it was home.