East and west of Zagros

"The four years of the First World War, 1914 to 1918, mark an important turning-point in the history of the countries of Western Asia. They saw territories which theretofore had perhaps been visited only by an occasional foreign traveller turned into a battle ground for modern armies or brought under direct European administration. They coincided with the development of the small, high-speed, light-oil, internal-combustion engine, that was to effect profound changes in the manner of men's lives in every part of the world, nowhere more profound than in these Asiatic lands ... in this book I have sought to depict the political and social conditions, and the manners of the customs of the people, as I saw them in parts of Persia and what is now known as Iraq, during the nine years 1913 to 1921, that straddle the four years of the War"--Preface.