Baghdad : city of peace, city of blood

Over Thirteen Centuries, Baghdad Has Enjoyed Both Cultural And Commercial Pre-eminence, Boasting Artistic And Intellectual Sophistication And An Economy Once The Envy Of The World. It Was Here, In The Time Of The Caliphs, That The Thousand And One Nights Were Set. This Book Gives Us A Many-layered History Of One Of The World's Truly Great Cities. The Caliph And His Capital: Mansur And The Foundation Of Baghdad (750-75) -- Harun Al Rashid And A Thousand And One Nights In Baghdad (775-809) -- 'the Fountainhead Of Scholars', Centre Of The World (809-92) -- The Later Abbasids: Farewell To The Meadows Of Gold (892-1258) -- 'this Pilgrimage Of Destruction': The Mongol And Tatar Storm (1258-1401) -- Black Sheep, White Sheep (1401-1534) -- Of Turks And Travellers (1534-1639) -- Plagues, Pashas And Mamluks (1639-1831) -- Empires Collide (1831-1917) -- A Very British Monarchy: Three Kings In Baghadad (1917-58) -- Coups, Communists And Baathists: The Mother Of All Bloodshed (1958-) -- Appendix: Iraqi Security Apparaus Under Saddam Hussein. Justin Marozzi. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.