An enlightening personal account of Lieutenant John Bagot Glubb’s turbulent ten years serving in Iraq between the two World Wars.
This is the perfect read for fans of T.E. Lawrence, James Barr, Scott Anderson, and Ian Black.
Finding army life in England monotonous after an eventful First World War, Bagot Glubb volunteers as one of 350 officers to serve in an Iraq troubled by tribal rebellion and grappling with post-war British political policy.
Little did a young Glubb in his twenties realize that this decision would be the catalyst for a lifetime of active service in the Arab world. Following the resolution of the tribal rebellions, Glubb goes on to serve with the R.A.F. (the only remaining British armed service) as a Special Service Officer, eventually resigning his commission to work under the Iraqi Government as an Administrative Inspector. Immersed in the challenges of tribal raiding, massacres, protection, and control, he travels extensively in a country that is dangerous, beautiful, and inhospitable, living and working alongside the Bedouin, whom he comes to understand, love, admire, and respect as brothers.
Glubb faithfully and vividly recounts his personal story using diaries, records, reports, and essays made at the time, authentically reproducing the thoughts and views of what he terms an “enthusiastic youth.” Recognizing that he is drawing the narrative together fifty years later as a much older man, he clearly marks where updated views have been included.
For anyone interested in Middle Eastern history, this is a fantastic record of the disappearing way of life of the Bedouin people and the situation in Iraq as it emerged as an independent state, free from British colonial rule.
