Justin Marozzi
See No Evil
The Weight of a Mustard Seed
By Wendell Steavenson
Atlantic Books 309pp £14.99
Apart from all the blood it has spilt, the war in Iraq has also produced a bountiful literary harvest on both sides of the Atlantic. Some of these books have been very good. They range from the immediacy of Jon Lee Anderson’s The Fall of Baghdad to the surrealist nightmare of Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s Imperial Life in the Emerald City, which chronicles the pitiful story of Iraq under Paul Bremer’s Coalition Provisional Authority of 2003–4. (Incidentally, Bremer’s dull and self-serving My Year in Iraq is not to be recommended.) Naomi Klein’s burst of righteous anger in The Shock Doctrine provides an excoriating close-up of the administration’s vested business interests in the war.
Wendell Steavenson’s book takes a step back from all the post-war mayhem and offers a compelling, deeply disturbing and meticulously constructed portrait of Saddam’s regime from the inside.
Her story centres on General Kamel Sachet, hero of the Iran–Iraq war, head of Saddam’s Special Forces, a brave and charismatic leader favoured
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Knowledge of Sufism increased markedly with the publication in 1964 of The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Nowadays his writings, much like his father’s, are dismissed for their Orientalism and inaccuracy.
@fitzmorrissey investigates who the Shahs really were.
Fitzroy Morrissey - Sufism Goes West
Fitzroy Morrissey: Sufism Goes West - Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah by Nile Green
literaryreview.co.uk
Rats have plagued cities for centuries. But in Baltimore, researchers alighted on one surprising solution to the problem of rat infestation: more rats.
@WillWiles looks at what lessons can be learned from rat ecosystems – for both rats and humans.
Will Wiles - Puss Gets the Boot
Will Wiles: Puss Gets the Boot - Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Twisters features destructive tempests and blockbuster action sequences.
@JonathanRomney asks what the real danger is in Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/eyes-of-the-storm