My memoirs
Subtitle: half a century of the history of Iraq and the Arab cause
By: Tawfiq al-Suwaydi ; translated from the Arabic by Nancy Roberts ; with an Introduction by Antony T. Sullivan
Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Boulder, Colo
Language: eng
Number of pages: 545
ISBN-13: 9781588269034
Subjects: Politicians; Biography; Politics and government
Work titles: Mudhakkirātī
Description: These memoirs of the distinguished Iraqi statesman Tawfiq al-Suwaydi (1892-1968) evocatively recapture a now largely vanished Arab world--and are an eloquent reminder that Iraq was once a far more open and tolerant society than it is today. Al-Suwaydi served as Iraq's prime minister three times (1929, 1946, 1950), as foreign minister on numerous occasions, and as ambassador to Iran, the League of Nations, and the United Nations. He frequently undertook sensitive diplomatic missions on behalf of the Iraqi monarchy. Among the major world figures with whom he interacted personally were Kemal Ataturk, Adnan Menderes, Gamal Abdul Nasser, Chaim Weizmann, David Ben Gurion, John Foster Dulles, Anthony Eden, George Curzon, Benito Mussolini, George Antonius, and Kings Abdullah, Faisal, Hussein, and Ibn Saud. From this vantage point, he wrote with an insider's detail about the diplomatic, political, and geostrategic issues that vexed Iraq and the entire Arab world from the early twentieth century through mid-1960s. A comprehensive essay by Antony T. Sullivan, senior associate for Middle East affairs at TerraBuilt Corporation International, introduces this first English-language edition of the memoirs.
Notes: Includes index.
Table of contents: title: List of Photographs; title: Foreword; title: Preface; title: Acknowledgements; title: Introduction; title: Dedication; title: 1. My upbringing; title: 2. In public life: the literary forum; title: 3. Iraq's independence: the Iraqi Congress; title: 4. Faisal in Iraq; title: 5. Democracy in Iraq; title: 6. Oil concessions; title: 7. The Hashemite-Saudi clash; title: 8. On Iraqi politics; title: 9. My first term as Prime Minister; title: 10. Abd al-Muhsin al-Saʻdun; title: 11. Nuri al-Saʻid enters the scene; title: 12. Minister plenipotentiary in Tehran; title: 13. At the League of Nations; title: 14. The ill-fated coups begin; title: 15. Geneva, Paris, London, Ankara; title: 16. Events on the brink of war; title: 17. At the London conference on the Palestine issue; title: 18. Unrest in Iraq; title: 19. The Gaylani movement and its outcomes; title: 20. The Arab League; title: 21. My second term as Prime Minister; title: 22. The Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1948; title: 23. My third term as Prime Minister; title: 24. The era of king Faisal II; title: 25. The Baghdad Pact; title: 26. Nationalization of the Suez Canal; title: 27. A Hashemite-Saudi rapprochement; title: 28. The Arab Federation; title: 29. Iraq and Kuwait; title: 30. Iraq's catastrophe: July 14, 1958; title: 31. The view from exile; title: 32. Conclusion.