| Description |
1 online resource (xv, 195 pages :) : illustrations |
| Physical Medium |
polychrome |
| Description |
text file |
| Summary |
This important account investigates the ruin of the Mesopotamian marsheshistorically one of the world's most important wetland environmentsalong with the decimation of an area inhabited, since the time of the Sumerians, by thousands of people living on artificial islands of mud and reeds and depending on sustainable fishing and farming. Located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in southern Iraq, the history of this important ecological and unique cultural jewel, which was destroyed under Saddam Hussein's reign through a series of constructed dams and water diversions designed to eradicate the remaining marsh dwellers, is analyzed at length. Interspersed with ancient Mesopotamian inscriptions and Old Testament quotations, this is a sobering account of the deliberate destruction of an environment for the purpose of ethnic cleansing. Features Presents over 30 rare, never before published photographs from the 1934 anthropology expedition to the marshlands Includes essays by photographer Nik Wheeler, human rights advocate Baroness Emma Nicholson, author Rasheed Al-Khayoun and ecologist Robert France about the present state of the marshlands Contains more than 20 photographs of Mesopotamian artifacts from the Harvard collection. |
| Contents |
Front Cover; Title Page; Copyright Page; Dedication; Contents; Foreword; Past-Present Ethno-Archaeological Linkages in Iraq's Marshlands: Edward L. Ochsenschlager; Preface -- Out of Time's Abyss: Voices of Portent; Prologue of Yesterday -- In the Garden of Earthly Delights: Eden Found; Introduction to Today -- Wetlands of Mass Destruction: Paradise Lost; Album and Essays; Part One: Water; "A Swamp He Made Into Dry Land"; "What the evil winds had sent hither"; "Disturbed was the Tigris river"; "The men ... knew not water"; "The water ... has gone bad"; "I shall weep for you, the pure Euphrates." |
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Essay One:Witness to a Lost Landscape: The Marshes in the Mid-Seventies: Nik Wheeler; Part Two: Ecology; "The Lord's Word Kills the Marsh"; "I shall dig out reed thickets"; "The earth's outcry"; "Not even a reed marsh was to be seen"; "The mantles of radiance were lost"; "In the fields the surface had become bad"; "My tears ran down my cheeks"; Essay Two:; Human Rights Issues in the Iraqi Marshlands: A Case for Genocide: Baroness Emma Nicholson of Winterbourne; Part Three: People; "A Reed Pipe of Dirges"; "He plotted evil, to devastate the land, to destroy people"; "A day of doom." |
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"The dead outnumber the living""Their hands have caught you"; "The people scattered"; "Laughter is become lament"; Essay Three:; Experiences and Hopes of the People of the Al-Ahwar Marshes: Rasheed Bander Al-Khayoun; Postscript for Tomorrow; The End is Nay: Eden Restored; Appendix; Harvard University's Collection of Near Eastern Artifacts and Archive of Early Marsh Arab Photographs; Inscription and Quotation Key; Inscription Sources; Photograph Key; Bibliography; Acknowledgements; About the Contributors. |
| Local Note |
eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America |
| Subject |
Marsh Arabs -- Iraq.
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Marsh Arabs. |
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Iraq. |
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Wetland ecology -- Iraq.
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Wetland ecology. |
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Genocide -- Iraq.
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Genocide. |
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Cuneiform inscriptions -- Translations into English.
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Cuneiform inscriptions. |
| Genre/Form |
Electronic books.
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Translations.
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| Added Author |
France, R. L. (Robert Lawrence)
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Wheeler, Nik.
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Nicholson, Emma.
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Khayyūn, Rashīd.
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| Other Form: |
Print version: France, Robert L. Wetlands of Mass Destruction : Ancient Presage for Contemporary Ecocide in Southern Iraq. Chicago : Green Frigate Books, ©2007 9780971746831 |
| ISBN |
9781927043028 (electronic book) |
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1927043026 (electronic book) |
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0971746834 |
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9780971746831 |
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