A Modern History of the Kurds

The division of the Kurdish people among the modern nation states of Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran and their Struggle for national rights have been constant themes of recent Middle East history. They are also issues which, particularly in Iraq and Turkey, have never been so pressing as they are today.

The Kurdish lands heve been contested territory for many centuries: a perilous mountain tract through which trade caravans and armies have had to march, a bulwark againts hostile powers and a source of defiance against state authority. From the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuriest the Ottoman Empire and Persia vied to control the Kurds, whose tribal leaders would compete in turn for state recognition. During the twentieth century, however, rapid political and economic transition and conflicting attempts by the Iranian, Iraqi and Turkish governments on the one hand and by turkish nationalists on the other have radically changed the conditions under which the struggle for Kurdish rights takes place.

In this detailed history of the Kurds from the niniteenth century to the present day, McDowall updates his examination of the interplay of old and new aspects of the struggle, the importance of local rivalries within Kurdish society, the enduring, authority of certain forms of leadership and the failure of modern states to respond to the challenge of Kudish nationalism. Drawing extensively on primary sources, A Modern History of the Kurds is useful for all who want a better understanding of the underlying dynamics of the Kurdish question.