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Paperback Land of Marvels Book

ISBN: 0393335526

ISBN13: 9780393335521

Land of Marvels

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Format: Paperback

Condition: Very Good

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Book Overview

In this masterful work of historical fiction set during the dying days of the Ottoman Empire, the schemes of Western powers grappling for a foothold in Mesopotamia come vividly to life. English archaeologist John Sommerville begins excavating a historical site, believing he has uncovered a find that will revolutionize his field. But when the Germans threaten his dig with their railroad, he hires an Arab spy, not recognizing the spies dwelling in his own house.

Customer Reviews

7 customer ratings | 5 reviews

Rated 5 stars
A Fireball of a Story

It's 1914 and thirty-five-year-old British archaeologist John Sommerville has taken his inheritance and sunk it into his life's dream of uncovering the glory of the Assyrian civilization and its kings in Mesopotamia (now called Iraq). But sadly things haven't been going so well for Sommerville, he's been at it for three seasons and has almost nothing to show for his work. He has hope, but it's about to be dashed by a German...

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Rated 5 stars
"He who owns the oil will own the world, he will rule the sea and the land, he will rule his fellowm

(4.5 stars) Mesopotamia, once the site of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, boasted vibrant civilizations four thousand years before the Christian Era, and the ruins of these civilizations, many of them buried for six thousand years, dot the countryside. By 1914, when this novel opens, Mesopotamia (Iraq) is being ruled from Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire. Virtually every European country is in Iraq, however, waiting...

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Rated 5 stars
rich and satisfying

There's a fine recent nonfiction work "Setting the Desert on Fire: T.E. Lawrence and Britain's Secret War in Arabia, 1916=1918" which provides a fascinating look at politics and duplicity in the Middle East by Britain and other world powers. Britain (and other countries) readily made promises that they never had any intention of honoring. Much of this is reflected in Unsworth's Land of Marvels. Somerville is a British...

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Rated 5 stars
Marvelous

This is very fine historical fiction. It is very timely. Although set in the recent past, at the time of World War I in Europe, the author places readers at the heart of the Middle East, which for many is still known as the fertile crescent or the center of civilization. He expounds knowledgeably on such geographic areas as the Mesopotamian civilization (now Iraq), with extensive discussions on the origins and development...

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Rated 5 stars
How Things Fall Apart

King oil, Iraq and the chess game of imperialistic "diplomacy." The elements may sound familiar, but author Barry Unsworth travels back to 1914 when the Ottoman Empire was in the closing act on the world stage and would soon be carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey in the aftermath of World War One (Iraq was created in 1920 by a League of Nations mandate and under the protection of the United Kingdom). The historical novel...

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