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

An adventurous diplomat's "engrossing and often darkly humorous" memoir of working with Iraqis after the fall of Saddam Hussein ( Publishers Weekly ). In August 2003, at the age of thirty, Rory Stewart took a taxi from Jordan to Baghdad. A Farsi-speaking British diplomat who had recently completed an epic walk from Turkey to Bangladesh, he was soon appointed deputy governor of Amarah and then Nasiriyah, provinces in the remote, impoverished marsh regions of southern Iraq. He spent the next eleven months negotiating hostage releases, holding elections, and splicing together some semblance of an infrastructure for a population of millions teetering on the brink of civil war. The Prince of the Marshes tells the story of Stewart's year. As a participant he takes us inside the occupation and beyond the Green Zone, introducing us to a colorful cast of Iraqis and revealing the complexity and fragility of a society we struggle to understand. By turns funny and harrowing, moving and incisive, it amounts to a unique portrait of heroism and the tragedy that intervention inevitably courts in the modern age. Content: ""Front Cover"" ""Front Flap"" ""Front Matter"" ""Half Title"" ""Also by Rory Stewart"" ""Title"" ""Copyright"" ""Dedication"" ""Contents"" ""Maps"" ""Foreword"" ""Dramatis Personae"" ""Timeline"" ""Introduction"" ""Capitalist-Imperialist-Crusader"" ""Waking Up Dead"" ""Mordor"" ""Part One: The Prince of the Marshes"" ""The British Camp"" ""Regeneration"" ""The General"" ""Civil Affairs"" ""Persia"" ""Ice Cream"" ""Baklava"" ""Pagoda"" ""The Supervisory Committee"" ""High Command"" ""Part Two: Death of a Hero"" ""Friday Prayers"" ""And Would Not Stay for an Answer""""Resolutions"" ""Blood Money"" ""Resignation"" ""Summit"" ""Part Three: Iraqi Pastoral"" ""Al-Mutanabi Street"" ""Rural Rides"" ""Deputy"" ""The Paths That Lead to Destruction"" ""Import Substitution Industrialization"" ""Jobs"" ""Mutiny"" ""Sheikhs"" ""Precautions"" ""The Islamic Call"" ""Sadrines"" ""Majority and Minority"" ""Poet"" ""Our Successors"" ""Departures"" ""Trust"" ""A New Chief"" ""Death by the Office Wall"" ""Credibility"" ""Part Four: Nasiriyah"" ""Arrivals"" ""Morning Meeting"" ""A Second Governor"" ""Sage of the Assembly""""Mudhif"" ""Ali Zeidi"" ""Police"" ""Echoes from the Frontiers"" ""Kidnapped"" ""Rewarding Friends"" ""Foreign Elements"" ""Return to the Green Zone"" ""The Rule of Law"" ""Part Five: Besieged"" ""The Quick Reaction Force"" ""Kabul"" ""Reprise"" ""Final Days"" ""Leaders"" ""Last Days in Amara"" ""Handing Over"" ""Afterword"" ""Epilogue"" ""Acknowledgments"" ""Back Flap"" ""Back Cover"" ""Spine""

In August 2003, at the age of thirty, Rory Stewart took a taxi from Jordan to Baghdad. A Farsi-speaking British diplomat who had recently completed an epic walk from Turkey to Bangladesh, he was soon appointed deputy governor of Amarah and then Nasiriyah, provinces in the remote, impoverished marsh regions of southern Iraq. He spent the next eleven months negotiating hostage releases, holding elections, and splicing together some semblance of an infrastructure for a population of millions teetering on the brink of civil war.

The Prince of the Marshes tells the story of Stewart’s year. As a participant he takes us inside the occupation and beyond the Green Zone, introducing us to a colorful cast of Iraqis and revealing the complexity and fragility of a society we struggle to understand. By turns funny and harrowing, moving and incisive, it amounts to a unique portrait of heroism and the tragedy that intervention inevitably courts in the modern age.

The Washington Post - Rajiv Chandrasekaran

Rory Stewart, a young British diplomat who helped to administer two provinces in southern Iraq for the U.S.-led occupation government, vividly depicts this chaotic world in his important and instructive new book, The Prince of the Marshes. Through his descriptions of his day-to-day struggles to mediate disputes, promote democracy, facilitate reconstruction and otherwise manage his patch of Iraq, he lays bare the complexity of America's and Britain's mission in Iraq.

In August 2003, at the age of thirty, Rory Stewart took a taxi from Jordan to Baghdad. A Farsi-speaking British diplomat who had recently completed an epic walk from Turkey to Bangladesh, he was soon appointed deputy governor of Amarah and then Nasiriyah, provinces in the remote, impoverished marsh regions of southern Iraq. He spent the next eleven months negotiating hostage releases, holding elections, and splicing together some semblance of an infrastructure for a population of millions teetering on the brink of civil war.

The Prince of the Marshes tells the story of Stewart’s year. As a participant he takes us inside the occupation and beyond the Green Zone, introducing us to a colorful cast of Iraqis and revealing the complexity and fragility of a society we struggle to understand. By turns funny and harrowing, moving and incisive, it amounts to a unique portrait of heroism and the tragedy that intervention inevitably courts in the modern age.

The New York Times - William Grimes

he Prince of the Marshes is his rueful, richly detailed, often harrowing account of his yearlong efforts to build a new civil society from the ruins of the old Iraq.

Foreword -- Introduction -- Capitalist-imperialist-crusader -- Waking up dead -- Mordor -- The prince of the marshes -- The British camp -- Regeneration -- Title TK -- Affairs -- Persia -- Ice cream -- Title TK -- Pagoda -- The supervisory committee -- High command -- Death of hero -- Friday prayers -- And would not stay for an answer -- Resolutions -- Blood money -- Resignation -- Summit -- Iraqi pastoral -- Al-Mutanabi street -- Rural rides -- Deputy -- The paths that lead to destruction -- Import substitution industrialization -- Jobs -- Mutiny -- Sheikhs -- Precautions -- The Islamic call -- Sadrines -- Majority and minority -- Our successors -- Departures -- Trust -- A new chief -- Death by the office wall -- Credibility -- Nasiriyah -- Arrivals -- Morning meeting -- A second governor -- Sage of the assembly -- Mudhif -- Ali Zeidi -- Police -- Echoes from the frontiers -- Kidnapped -- Rewarding friends -- Foreign elements -- Return to the Green Zone -- The rule of law -- Besieged -- The quick reaction force -- Kabul -- Reprise -- Final days -- Ali Zeidi -- Last days in Amara -- Handing over -- Afterword -- Acknowledgments -- Dramatis personae -- Timeline "Iraq. September 2003; it's six months after the US-led invasion, and the country is in anarchy - the infrastructure has collapsed, terrorist attacks have begun and the coalition has decided to rule directly via the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). Rory Stewart, a young British diplomat, is appointed as the coalition deputy governor (CPA deputy governorate coordinator) of a province of 850,000 people in the southern marshland. There, in the cities of Amara and then Nasiriyah, he and his colleagues confront gangsters, Iranian-linked politicians, tribal vendettas and a full Islamist insurgency, in which Stewart is besieged in his compound under continual fire, struggling to keep his staff alive. They negotiate hostage releases, appoint Iraqi governors and police chiefs, patch up the shattered infrastructure and, in June 2004, hand over sovereignty to the Iraqi government." "Stewart's almost colonial role may never exist again. His insider's account reveals a side of Iraq hidden from most foreign journalists and soldiers and raises questions about the whole project of 'state-building' in the twenty-first century."--BOOK JACKET. In August 2003, at the age of thirty, 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 regions of southern Iraq. He spent the next eleven months negotiating hostage releases, holding elections, and splicing together some semblance of an infrastructure for a population of millions teetering on the brink of civil war. The Prince of the Marshes tells the story of Stewart's year. As a participant, he takes us inside the occupation and beyond the Green Zone, introducing us to a colorful cast of Iraqis and revealing the complexity and fragility of a society we struggle to understand. By turns funny and harrowing, moving and incisive, this book amounts to a unique portrait of heroism and the tragedy that intervention inevitably courts in the modern age. The Prince of the Marshes tells the story of Rory Stewart, a Farsi-speaking British diplomat who was appointed deputy governor of provinces in the remote, impoverished marsh regions of southern Iraq. By turns funny and harrowing, moving and incisive, it amounts to a unique portrait of heroism and the tragedy that intervention inevitably courts in the modern age A British diplomat, named deputy governor of Amarah and Nasiriya in Iraq at the end of 2003, recounts how he negotiated hostage releases, held elections, and worked to organize a social infrastructure for millions of beleaguered Iraqi citizens