Imperial Life in the Emerald City

By: Rajiv Chandrasekaran

Narrated by: Ray Porter

In this unprecedented account, The Washington Post's former Baghdad bureau chief, Rajiv Chandrasekaran, takes us into the Green Zone, headquarters for the American occupation in Iraq. In this bubble separated from wartime realities, the task of reconstructing a devastated nation competes with the distractions of a Little America: a half-dozen bars, a disco, a shopping mall - much of it run by Halliburton.

While qualified Americans willing to serve in Iraq are screened for their views on Roe v. Wade, the country is put into the hands of inexperienced 20-somethings chosen for their Republican Party loyalty. Ignoring what Iraqis say they want or need, the team pursues irrelevant neoconservative solutions and pie-in-the-sky policies instead of rebuilding looted buildings and restoring electricity. Their almost comic initiatives anger the locals and fuel the insurgency.

©2006 Rajiv Chandrasekaran (P)2006 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

• A National Book Award Finalist

"A devastating indictment of the post-invasion failures of the Bush administration." (Booklist)
"An eye-opening tour of ineptitude, misdirection, and the perils of democracy-building." (Newsday)
"With acuity and a fine sense of the absurd, the author peels back the roof to reveal an ant heap of arrogance, ineptitude, and hayseed provincialism." (Boston Globe)
"As chilling an indictment of America's tragic cultural myopia as Graham Greene's prescient 1955 novel of the American debacle in Indochina, The Quiet American." (New York Times)

An Insider's View

Simply the best book I've read yet concerning the events in Iraq. Rajiv uses an insider's perspective to explain what's really going on in the Middle East. I found it enlightening, educational, shocking, and entertaining. Best of the Best!

Informative

Would you consider the audio edition of Imperial Life in the Emerald City to be better than the print version?

Maybe, I need to read this book and check the facts. A lot of this I didn't know

What other book might you compare Imperial Life in the Emerald City to and why?

Not sure

What does Ray Porter bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His voice, sounds very "as a matter of fact" kind.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The plight of the Iraqis. Need to double check a lot of these facts, to be convinced that this story is as good as it seems.

Any additional comments?

Iwill recommend this book to most of my friends.

Shocking Indictment of Hubris

Any additional comments?

I was a bit worried this book would be a lefty hatchet job and whilst the account certainly helps to make a case for those who were critical of the post invasion phase of the Iraq war, it was laid out in a very factual and coherent manner.Its the facts themselves that are shocking.Numerous accounts of qualified and experienced (and often republican) personnel in key positions being replaced at key moments with unqualified, inexperienced friends of the administration, or politically-motivated appointees was deeply troubling.I already knew some of this, such as Garner's replacement early on, but there were many others.I struggle to understand how those involved could disregard the damage they were doing for the sake of winning an un-winnable political argument.

So many bad decisions, but the key ones:

- indiscriminate de-Bathification
- disbanding the Iraqi army

Thankfully Bush did belatedly come to his senses and change direction, by lessening Cheney's influence, and replacing Rumsfeld with Gates.I was against the Iraq war from the start, but I felt once we were in, we couldn't just abandon the country to chaos, and I think Gates did about as good a job as anyone could have in that situation.

I also want to spare a thought for all of our military personnel whose sacrifice was needed to clean-up the damage done by this phase of the invasion. Thank you!

Good not great

Good information and good narration story could have been more in depth and more epilogue would have been nice too

very good

this book is really good and very informative. wasn't a big fan of the narrator though.