They came to Baghdad
By: Mike Mandel & Chantal Zakari
Contributors: Zakari, Chantal; Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition; Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Artists' Books Collection (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library)
Publisher: Eighteen Publications
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Watertown, MA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 100
ISBN-13: 9780918290112; 9780918290113
Subjects: Violence; Pictorial works; Booksellers and bookselling; Bombings; Iraq War, 2003-2011; Protest movements; Books and reading in art; Intellectual life; Social conditions; Censorship; Terrorism in art; In art; War and civilization; Vehicle bombs; Visual literature; Specimens; Artists' books; Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition
Other titles: Multi-national force : Iraq in Agatha Christie's They came to Baghdad
Description: This collection supports and promotes awareness to the important mission and framework of the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Coalition's focus on the lasting power of the written word and the arts in support of the free expression of ideas, the preservation of shared cultural spaces, and the importance of responding to attacks, both overt and subtle, on artists, writers, and academics working under oppressive regimes or in zones of conflict, despite the destruction of that literary/cultural content.
Notes: Cover title.

"This book is included in the traveling exhibition 'An inventory of Al-Mutanabbi Street' curated by Beau Beausoleil & Sarah Bodman. On March 5, 2007, a car bomb was exploded on Al-Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad ... This book is a response to The Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition's call for 130 book artists to 're-assemble' some of the 'inventory' of the reading material that was lost in the car bombing"--Colophon.

"Baghdad is the chosen location for a secret superpower meeting in Agatha Christie's They Came to Baghdad which has been translated into more than 30 languages and has been published continuously since it first appeared in England in 1951. In our book, They Came to Baghdad, Christie's 40 book covers conjure an exotic site for diplomatic, and romantic intrigue. They parallel the second chapter, excerpts and images of the 40 countries that have participated in the Multi-National Force deploying troops to Iraq between 2003 and 2011. In our final chapter, the invasion continues; it's an index of corporate logos of the contractors hired for the reconstruction of Iraq and the major foreign investors involved. The work is based entirely on websearch, not only from traditional media sources, but also from alternative sources that have now entered the public sphere. From ebay and amazon, blog entries around the world translated through Google Translate, flickr and myspace all contributed to our visual narrative"--Artists' statement.

Perfect binding, hardcover.

Gift; Beau Beausoleil; 2019-2020.