They Will Have to Die Now: Mosul and the Fall of the Calliphate by James Verini
W.W. Norton & Co. 2019
Hardcovered, with dust jacket. Very gently used, in near-new condition.
Mosul and the Fall
They Will Have to Die Now: Mosul and the Fall of the Calliphate by James Verini
In autumn 2016, Iraqi forces began operations to recapture Mosul from the Islamic State. Millennia-old, Mosul was a birthplace of Western culture but also infamous for its cruelty, from the Assyrians to Saddam Hussein. Through the eyes of soldiers and families and jihadis, award-winning reporter James Verini chronicles the combat that followed.
Among the most devastating urban conflicts since World War II, the battle for Mosul was both archaic and modern. Troops and jihadis fought house by house, block by block, matching bullet for bullet, while co-ordinating their movements on WhatsApp and uploading execution videos. Verini describes how this viciously contested patch of earth came to represent a war for the soul of a country, for its history and its future. Verini also relates the rich history of Iraq, and of Mosul, one of the most beguiling cities in the Middle East.