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A Brief Guide To Saddam Hussein Books

By Ines Flores


Saddam Hussein is an Iraqi leader born in 1937 who became president in 1979. He is remembered for strengthening the oil industry in Iraq as well as its military. To maintain power, he often used brutal measures that eventually cost him his life at the hands of Iraqi government. In 2006, he was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity that he was executed for in Dec 2006. What most people do not know about him is that he was an author of several Saddam Hussein books.

Saddam published a total of four books and several poems. His work was published anonymously with a pen name the author. Some of his books were included in the syllabus for Iraqi schools. However, after his death, both official and bootleg copies of the books sold out. The novels by the former Iraqi ruler include Men and City, Begone, Demons, Zabibah and the King and The Fortified Castle.

The first novel is Zabibah and the King. Its a romance novel written by Saddam Hussein and published anonymously in 2000. It has several characters including the protagonist the Arab, Zabibah, her husband, Nuri, Shamil and Hezkel. Despite a romantic theme, the novel is largely an allegory and political metaphor. Arab the protagonist is Hussein while Zabibah the poor unloved woman represents the Iraq people.

The relationship between Zabibah and her husband is unloving and cruel. At one point he rapes her, which is believed to represent Iraqs invasion. As a result, the husband is an allegory to the United States. Hezkel, Nuri and Shemel represent other perceived enemies of Iraq such as Israel, Jews and merchants. The novel sold over a million copies and proceeds donated to charity.

Men and the City is another of his novels published in 2002. Its the third of his books to be published. This particular book is more of an autobiography that tells the story of how his grandfather battled the Ottoman Empire. Although it is rumored that the book was ghostwritten, there is evidence that Hussein might have written it.

The Fortified Castle is Husseins third novel. Like most of the others, it is a political metaphor and allegory. Published in 2001, it is about the delayed wedding of the Iraq protagonist to a Kurdish girl. The protagonist, Sabah is a war hero from the Iran-Iraq war. The fortified castle makes a reference to Iraq with many proposals to divide its wealth.

Begone, Demons, a basically a translation of Get out of here while Cursed You is the fourth but also last novel authored by Saddam. It was written in 2003 in anticipation of the Iraq war. It got published much later in 2006 in Tokyo by a Japanese-based publisher. Since then, it has only been translated into Turkish and no other translations exist.

The four materials authored by Saddam Hussein were very significant to him. This is true because they were written and published at a time when his political demise had begun. They show hope, strength and a bit of ignorance by a leader who depicts himself as a hero in his work.




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