Memories of Eden: A Journey Through Jewish Baghdad
This is an extraordinary, unique and invaluable book. Violette Shamash, who died in 2006, tells the story of the Jewish community in Baghdad in the first half of the 20th century. She writes beautifully and her book is superbly readable. She describes in exquisite detail the histories, lives and customs of Iraq's Jews through the evocative stories of her own family. This astonishing record has been put together by Violette's daughter Mira and her husband Tony Rocca from letters, notes and essays written by Violette over a period of 20 years. These tell the story of a cultivated and well integrated Jewish community in the heart of Muslim Arabia during the end of the Ottoman Empire and the British Mandate. Memories of Eden is a superb account of a long forgotten time - indeed a time which is barely imaginable now, given the hatreds that currently exist in the Middle East. Until the Second World War,  Jews and Muslims lived side by side, she writes. "We were treated as equals and accepted on our own merit until the poison of Nazism and Arab nationalism entered the bloodstream. The evil spread like a bad, contagious disease."  It still does so - William ShawcrossHer book provides a unique insight into the culture, customs, and everyday life of the Jews of Iraq. It paints a sensitive portrait of an ancient civilization which was swept away by the violent current of modern nationalism. The contrast between the harmony and peaceful coexistence depicted here and the mayhem and destructiveness of present-day Iraq could hardly be starker - Professor Avi Shlaim, St Antony's College, OxfordIt is full of detail: the heat, the holy days, the rituals, food, smells and sounds of the souq; the river Tigris, its water and fish; the costumes and clothes people wore; schooldays and rides on donkey-back before motorised transport became available...A treasure house of information - Professor Shmuel Moreh, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem (from the Foreword)