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Lead book review

Baghdad's rise, fall – and rise again

Justin Marozzi's Baghdad: City of Peace, City of Blood is a work of love about a city that has seen glories and survived horrors

31 May 2014

9:00 AM

31 May 2014

9:00 AM

Baghdad: City of Peace, City of Blood Justin Marozzi

Allen Lane, pp.442, £25, ISBN: 9781846143137

The history of Baghdad more than any other city mirrors the ebb and flow that has marked Islamic history and civilisation. The rise and fall of empires and dynasties, the splendours of Islam’s high culture and its decline, the periodic tensions and ease that affected relations between nations and peoples, sects and faiths have all been played out in the teeming neighbourhoods, palace precincts, market areas, great mosques, educational centres and military compounds of this remarkable city.

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