Reviews
"Absolutely brilliant. It is eyewitness history of the first order. . . . It should be read by anyone who wants to understand how things went so badly wrong in Iraq." -The New York Times Book Review "A visceral sometimes sickening picture of how the administration and its handpicked crew bungled the first year in postwar Iraq. . . . Often reads like something out ofCatch-22or fromM*A*S*H." -The New York Times "Revealing. . . . Chandrasekaran's portrait of blinkered idealism is evenhanded, chronicling the disillusionment of conservatives who were sent to a war zone without the resources to achieve lasting change." -The New Yorker "Incredible . . . fantastically written. . . . Chandrasekaran's sharp-eyed account of life inside Baghdad's Green Zone offers some of the blackest comedy at the bookstore." -Entertainment Weekly "Black comedy, set in the graveyard of the neo-conservative dream. Superb." -John le Carré, "Absolutely brilliant. It is eyewitness history of the first order. . . . It should be read by anyone who wants to understand how things went so badly wrong in Iraq."- The New York Times Book Review "A visceral sometimes sickening picture of how the administration and its handpicked crew bungled the first year in postwar Iraq. . . . Often reads like something out of Catch-22 or from M*A*S*H ."- The New York Times "Revealing. . . . Chandrasekaran's portrait of blinkered idealism is evenhanded, chronicling the disillusionment of conservatives who were sent to a war zone without the resources to achieve lasting change."- The New Yorker "Incredible . . . fantastically written. . . . Chandrasekaran's sharp-eyed account of life inside Baghdad's Green Zone offers some of the blackest comedy at the bookstore."- Entertainment Weekly "Black comedy, set in the graveyard of the neo-conservative dream. Superb."- John le Carré From the Trade Paperback edition., "Absolutely brilliant. It is eyewitness history of the first order. . . . It should be read by anyone who wants to understand how things went so badly wrong in Iraq."-- The New York Times Book Review "A visceral - sometimes sickening - picture of how the administration and its handpicked crew bungled the first year in postwar Iraq. . . . Often reads like something out of Catch-22 or from M*A*S*H ."-- The New York Times "Revealing. . . . Chandrasekaran's portrait of blinkered idealism is evenhanded, chronicling the disillusionment of conservatives who were sent to a war zone without the resources to achieve lasting change."-- The New Yorker "Incredible . . . fantastically written. . . . Chandrasekaran's sharp-eyed account of life inside Baghdad's Green Zone offers some of the blackest comedy at the bookstore."-- Entertainment Weekly "Black comedy, set in the graveyard of the neo-conservative dream. Superb."-- John le Carré, "Extraordinary . . . Indispensable . . . Full of jaw-dropping tales of the myriad large and small ways in which Bremer and his team poured fuel into the lethal cauldron that is today's Iraq . . . [Chandrasekaran ] has a keen eye for the small detail that illuminates larger truths . . . [he] documents the way that an avalanche of unjustifiable mistakes transforms a difficult mission into an impossible one . . . Chandrasekaran does not set out to score partisan points or unveil large geopolitical lessons; he is, essentially, a reporter telling readers what he saw. Yet it is impossible to read his book without thinking about the larger implications of the story he tells." -Moisés Naím,The Washington Post Book World "Mr. Chandrasekaran's book, while nonfiction, is as chilling an indictment of America's tragic cultural myopia as Graham Greene's prescient 1955 novel of the American debacle in Indochina, "The Quiet American." -Frank Rich,The New York TimesOp-Ed "Chandrasekaran's detail-rich reporting and firsthand, candid narrative is what sets his contribution apart [from other books about the Iraq war] and bolsters his withering assessment . . . Using nearly two years of reporting in the country for the Washington Post and an impeccable eye for the tragic and outrageous, Chandrasekaran unveils the occupation authority compound as a Middle East Oz, grossly out of touch with the harsh realities of the real Iraq . . . The book is an eye-opening tour of ineptitude, misdirection and perils of democracy-building" -Andrew Metz,Newsday "With acuity and a fine sense of the absurd, the author peels back the roof to reveal an ant heap of arrogance, ineptitude, and hayseed provincialism" -Amanda Heller,Boston Globe "A devastating indictment of the post-invasion failures of the Bush administration." - Jay Freeman,Booklist "InImperial Life in the Emerald City[Chandrasekaran] draws a vividly detailed portrait of the Green Zone and the Coalition Provisional Authority (which ran Iraq's government from April 2003 to June 2004) that becomes a metaphor for the administration's larger failings in Iraq . . . His book gives the reader a visceralsometimes sickeningpicture of how the administration and its handpicked crew bungled the first year in postwar Iraq, showing how decisions made in that period contributed to a burgeoning insurgency and growing ethnic and religious strife . . . The picture Mr. Chandrasekaran draws in these pages often reads like something out ofCatch-22or fromMASH." - Michiko Kakutani,The New York Times "Extraordinary . . . Indispensable . . . Full of jaw-dropping tales of the myriad large and small ways in which Bremer and his team poured fuel into the lethal cauldron that is today's Iraq . . . [Chandrasekaran ] has a keen eye for the small detail that illuminates larger truths . . . [he] documents the way that an avalanche of unjustifiable mistakes transforms a difficult mission into an impossible one . . . Chandrasekaran does not set out to score partisan points or unveil large geopolitical lessons; he is, essentially, a reporter telling readers what he saw. Yet it is impossible to read his book without thinking about the larger implications of the story he tells." -Moisés Naím,The Washington Post Book World "This is a devastating account of the American occupation of Iraq. It shows how Americans arrived in Iraq full of big plans (and/or lucrative contracts) to help the country become more like the United States, but wound up living an isolated existence while the lives of Iraqis deteriorate, "Extraordinary . . . Indispensable . . . Full of jaw-dropping tales of the myriad large and small ways in which Bremer and his team poured fuel into the lethal cauldron that is today's Iraq . . . YChandrasekaran ? has a keen eye for the small detail that illuminates larger truths . . . Yhe? documents the way that an avalanche of unjustifiable mistakes transforms a difficult mission into an impossible one . . . Chandrasekaran does not set out to score partisan points or unveil large geopolitical lessons; he is, essentially, a reporter telling readers what he saw. Yet it is impossible to read his book without thinking about the larger implications of the story he tells." -Moises Naim, "The Washington Post Book World" "Mr. Chandrasekaran's book, while nonfiction, is as chilling an indictment of America's tragic cultural myopia as Graham Greene's prescient 1955 novel of the American debacle in Indochina, "The Quiet American." -Frank Rich, "The New York Times" Op-Ed "Chandrasekaran's detail-rich reporting and firsthand, candid narrative is what sets his contribution apart Yfrom other books about the Iraq war? and bolsters his withering assessment . . . Using nearly two years of reporting in the country for the Washington Post and an impeccable eye for the tragic and outrageous, Chandrasekaran unveils the occupation authority compound as a Middle East Oz, grossly out of touch with the harsh realities of the real Iraq . . . The book is an eye-opening tour of ineptitude, misdirection and perils of democracy-building" -Andrew Metz, "Newsday" "With acuity and a fine sense of the absurd, the author peels back the roof to reveal an ant heap of arrogance, ineptitude, andhayseed provincialism" -Amanda Heller, "Boston Globe" "A devastating indictment of the post-invasion failures of the Bush administration." - Jay Freeman, "Booklist" "In "Imperial Life in the Emerald City "YChandrasekaran? draws a vividly detailed portrait of the Green Zone and the Coalition Provisional Authority (which ran Iraq's government from April 2003 to June 2004) that becomes a metaphor for the administration's larger failings in Iraq . . . His book gives the reader a visceral-sometimes sickening-picture of how the administration and its handpicked crew bungled the first year in postwar Iraq, showing how decisions made in that period contributed to a burgeoning insurgency and growing ethnic and religious strife . . . The picture Mr. Chandrasekaran draws in these pages often reads like something out of "Catch-22 "or from" MASH."" - Michiko Kakutani, "The New York Times" "Extraordinary . . . Indispensable . . . Full of jaw-dropping tales of the myriad large and small ways in which Bremer and his team poured fuel into the lethal cauldron that is today's Iraq . . . YChandrasekaran ? has a keen eye for the small detail that illuminates larger truths . . . Yhe? documents the way that an avalanche of unjustifiable mistakes transforms a difficult mission into an impossible one . . . Chandrasekaran does not set out to score partisan points or unveil large geopolitical lessons; he is, essentially, a reporter telling readers what he saw. Yet it is impossible to read his book without thinking about the larger implications of the story he tells." -Moises Naim, "The Washington Post Book World" "This is a devastating account of the American occupation of Iraq. It showshow Americans arrived in Iraq full of big plans (and/or lucrative contracts) to help the country become more like the United States, but wound up living an isolated existence while the lives of Iraqis deteriorated around them. No other book has described so well what Iraq looked like and felt like in the aftermath of the invasion." -James Mann, author of "Rise of the Vulcans" "Rajiv Chandrasekaran has not given us "another Iraq book." He has given us a riveting tale of American misadventure. . . . He shows us American idealism and voyeurism, as well as the deadly r, "Absolutely brilliant. It is eyewitness history of the first order. . . . It should be read by anyone who wants to understand how things went so badly wrong in Iraq." -- The New York Times Book Review "A visceral - sometimes sickening - picture of how the administration and its handpicked crew bungled the first year in postwar Iraq. . . . Often reads like something out of Catch-22 or from M*A*S*H ." -- The New York Times "Revealing. . . . Chandrasekaran's portrait of blinkered idealism is evenhanded, chronicling the disillusionment of conservatives who were sent to a war zone without the resources to achieve lasting change." -- The New Yorker "Incredible . . . fantastically written. . . . Chandrasekaran's sharp-eyed account of life inside Baghdad's Green Zone offers some of the blackest comedy at the bookstore." -- Entertainment Weekly "Black comedy, set in the graveyard of the neo-conservative dream. Superb." -- John le Carré, "Absolutely brilliant. It is eyewitness history of the first order. . . . It should be read by anyone who wants to understand how things went so badly wrong in Iraq."- The New York Times Book Review "A visceral sometimes sickening picture of how the administration and its handpicked crew bungled the first year in postwar Iraq. . . . Often reads like something out of Catch-22 or from M*A*S*H ."- The New York Times "Revealing. . . . Chandrasekaran's portrait of blinkered idealism is evenhanded, chronicling the disillusionment of conservatives who were sent to a war zone without the resources to achieve lasting change."- The New Yorker "Incredible . . . fantastically written. . . . Chandrasekaran's sharp-eyed account of life inside Baghdad's Green Zone offers some of the blackest comedy at the bookstore."- Entertainment Weekly "Black comedy, set in the graveyard of the neo-conservative dream. Superb."- John le Carré
Synopsis
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - National Book Award Finalist - This eyewitness history of the first order ... should be read by anyone who wants to understand how things went so badly wrong in Iraq" ( The New York Times Book Review ). The Green Zone, Baghdad, Iraq, 2003: in this walled-off compound of swimming pools and luxurious amenities, Paul Bremer and his Coalition Provisional Authority set out to fashion a new, democratic Iraq. Staffed by idealistic aides chosen primarily for their views on issues such as abortion and capital punishment, the CPA spent the crucial first year of occupation pursuing goals that had little to do with the immediate needs of a postwar nation: flat taxes instead of electricity and deregulated health care instead of emergency medical supplies. In this acclaimed firsthand account, the former Baghdad bureau chief of The Washington Post gives us an intimate portrait of life inside this Oz-like bubble, which continued unaffected by the growing mayhem outside. This is a quietly devastating tale of imperial folly, and the definitive history of those early days when things went irrevocably wrong in Iraq., NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * National Book Award Finalist * This "eyewitness history of the first order ... should be read by anyone who wants to understand how things went so badly wrong in Iraq" ( The New York Times Book Review ). The Green Zone, Baghdad, Iraq, 2003: in this walled-off compound of swimming pools and luxurious amenities, Paul Bremer and his Coalition Provisional Authority set out to fashion a new, democratic Iraq. Staffed by idealistic aides chosen primarily for their views on issues such as abortion and capital punishment, the CPA spent the crucial first year of occupation pursuing goals that had little to do with the immediate needs of a postwar nation: flat taxes instead of electricity and deregulated health care instead of emergency medical supplies. In this acclaimed firsthand account, the former Baghdad bureau chief of The Washington Post gives us an intimate portrait of life inside this Oz-like bubble, which continued unaffected by the growing mayhem outside. This is a quietly devastating tale of imperial folly, and the definitive history of those early days when things went irrevocably wrong in Iraq., With their significant impact upon economic, social and political spheres, videogames are a crucial site of sociological research. The spaces in which videogames are played are often referred to by generic terms which do not adequately incorporate or convey the experiences of those who use technologies as a means of communication, work and play. Placing Lefebvre's The Production of Space (1991/1974) as its cornerstone, Exploring Videogames through Digital Space and Time examines how Lefebvre's conceptual typology of space can be used as a tool of analysis, arguing that the experiences of postindustrial society is concurrent to experiences of space: transient and in flux. Following a discussion of the influence of Lefebvre's writing upon contemporary considerations of space and specifically drawing on the work of Baudrillard, Bourdieu, McLuhan and Virilio, the book engages with the problem of identifying, defining and describing the spaces produced by videogames. It achieves this by revising and updating Lefebvre's typology and therefore offering an original and critical model for engaging with the complex spaces produced by videogames. Following a critique of the current uses of spatial terminology in literature specific to videogames, Exploring Videogames through Digital Space and Time applies the updated model of space to a critical and empirical study of the play, production, consumption and politics of videogames. Throughout the progression of the book it becomes apparent that the impact of digital space is symptomatic of wider sociological changes in interaction, politics, work, perception of time, everyday life and the body., A National Book Award Finalist and New York Times Bestseller The Green Zone, Baghdad, Iraq, 2003: in this walled-off compound of swimming pools and luxurious amenities, Paul Bremer and his Coalition Provisional Authority set out to fashion a new, democratic Iraq. Staffed by idealistic aides chosen primarily for their views on issues such as abortion and capital punishment, the CPA spent the crucial first year of occupation pursuing goals that had little to do with the immediate needs of a postwar nation: flat taxes instead of electricity and deregulated health care instead of emergency medical supplies. In this acclaimed firsthand account, the former Baghdad bureau chief of The Washington Post gives us an intimate portrait of life inside this Oz-like bubble, which continued unaffected by the growing mayhem outside. This is a quietly devastating tale of imperial folly, and the definitive history of those early days when things went irrevocably wrong in Iraq.
