Republic of Dreams - by Nicole F Watts (Hardcover)

About the Book

"A deeply researched work of narrative nonfiction that marries the recent political history of Kurdish Iraq with the extraordinary rags-to-riches story of a childhood refugee. Peshawa's journey takes readers inside his people's struggles to rebuild community and bring democracy to Iraqi Kurdistan after genocide and war"--

Book Synopsis

A harrowing political history of Kurdish Iraq told through the extraordinary rags-to-riches story of a childhood refugee

In the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, Iraqi president Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons against his own people, the Iraqi Kurds. Five thousand people died in what became known as the Halabja Massacre, which has been deemed the worst chemical attack in history. Nicole F. Watts, a former journalist and now professor of political science, has spent over a decade researching the struggles of the Kurdish people in Iraq, and in vivid, lyrical prose, she tells their story through the eyes of Peshawa, a young Muslim Kurd whose family barely survived the bombing and then fled for their lives.

Republic of Dreams is a harrowing portrait of Iraqi Kurdistan and its history, as it weathers Hussein's genocidal campaign against the Kurds, a civil war, the US invasion of Iraq, the Arab Spring, and the sustained neglect of the city of Halabja. Throughout the book, the thread of Peshawa's story immerses readers in the everyday and extraordinary world of Iraqi Kurds between the late 1980s and 2022, exploring the meaning of home and dislocation in the wake of war and genocide.

Based on over a hundred in-depth interviews with Iraqi Kurdish activists, journalists, elected officials, and community organizers, and hundreds of hours of conversations with Peshawa and his family, Republic of Dreams brings to vivid life the story of modern Kurdistan, and the Kurdish national dream to have their own homeland.

Review Quotes

"Riveting. Written in a literary style, the text blurs the lines between history and hagiography, telling Peshawa's story in the hero's journey style... history is made up of ordinary people overcoming extraordinary odds."-- "Foreword Reviews"

"Republic of Dreams is an original and beautifully written account of Iraqi Kurdistan, depicted through the eyes of a Kurd born just after his family fled the 1988 chemical bombing of Halabja. Watts uses her light touch and deep knowledge of the region to go far beyond dry history books, explaining the human side of wars that traumatize a whole population, the dilemmas of the disastrous 2017 Kurdistan independence referendum and how authoritarian clan leaders perpetuate their exploitative hold on power. Above all, her use of an accurate, vivid, fiction-like style allows the reader to experience everyday Middle Eastern life, including finding a wife in society's 'wedding bureaucracy, ' the warm, high-minded decency of a conservative Muslim Kurdish family, and the constant awareness and acceptance of how thin the line between life and death can be."-- "Hugh Pope, co-editor of The Keys to Democracy: Sortition as a New Model for Citizen Power"

"By following a young man from Halabja as he moves from Northern Iraq to the United States and back, Republic of Dreams presents a vivid slice of Kurdish life, culture, and politics during a turbulent period. What comes through in Watts' exceptionally engaging prose is this young man's resourcefulness and his determination not to give up even in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges. His story opens a window for us to think through and understand how the Kurdish people and their politics have persevered in the face of unimaginable cruelties, betrayals, and repeated disappointments since the early twentieth century. Republic of Dreams is that rare book that manages to bring some extremely complicated global, regional, and national issues to the level of an individual, relate them to his dreams and aspirations and make them understandable and relatable in a personal and a universal way."-- "Resat Kasaba, author of A Moveable Empire: Ottoman Nomads, Migrants, and Refugees"

"In a riveting and innovative work of narrative non-fiction, Nicole F. Watts tells the story of Iraqi Kurdistan through the life of one remarkable young man from Halabja. Combining deep academic research and an empathetic ear for the humanity of her subjects, Watts brings to life the Kurdish experience from the horrors of the Halabja chemical weapons attacks and the struggle for independence to the daily struggles for education, work, and love."-- "Marc Lynch, author of The Arab Uprisings: The Unfinished Revolutions of the New Middle East."

"This is a beautifully written account of recent Iraqi Kurdish history as seen through the eyes of a child, soon to become a young man struggling to build a future for himself, moving in concert with the rebirth of Iraqi Kurdistan from the ashes of disaster, such as the 1988 Iraqi chemical attack on Halabja, his hometown."-- "Joost Hiltermann, author of A Poisonous Affair: America, Iraq, and the Gassing of Halabja"

About the Author

Nicole F. Watts is Professor of Political Science at San Francisco State University. She is the author of Activists in Office: Kurdish Politics and Protest in Turkey and co-editor of Negotiating Political Power in Turkey: Breaking up the Party.