Ali Allawi, a former high ranking official in several Iraqi government posts, has written a book that traces the successes and failures of the occupation. It has garnished the praise of reviewers as an essential book for anyone wanting to know what went wrong and how the occupation should move forward.

Rajiv Chandrasekaran praises Allawi’s book for adding an important new voice to the debate over what went wrong in Iraq and how we should move forward: “Allawi's book is not simply a polemic. It is a thorough account of the effort to govern and reconstruct Iraq as told by an Iraqi who was deeply involved in the process.”

Fouad Ajami writes that Ali Allawi’s book is an oasis in the desert of books on Iraq: “Here, finally, is a man of Iraq who knows its history and its wounds. He can write with deep understanding about its poets, its intellectuals, its clerics.”

Jim Simpson praises Allawi for arguing that the U.S. should have been more aggressive against the Ba’athists.

Amir Taheri writes that Allawi’s book swings from one perspective to another, from lauding the war to cursing the occupation. It is a book that shows the Iraq conflict for what it is in all its shades of gray.”

David Corn calls Allawi’s book a “stinging indictment” of the Bush administration’s handling of the war. If Allawi is right, Corn says, “Bush is asking US soldiers to sacrifice lives and limbs not for liberty and security but for a paradox.”

Jafarzadeh, a foreign affairs analyst for Fox News, traces the path of Islamic extremism in Iran from 1979 to the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The only solution for Iran, Jafarzadeh argues, is international support for Iranian resistance movements.

Ali Ansari, a British historian, traces the history of British and American involvement in Iran and how that involvement has led to cultural and political misunderstanding.

This new book by the Nobel Peace Prize winning Iranian human-rights lawyer, Shirin Ebadi, traces the beginnings of the breakdown of Iranian politics with the 1953 CIA orchestrated coup to the country's present unrest. This is an excellent personal account of the struggles and hopes of the Iranian people.

Columbia University professor Hamid Dabashi offers a cosmopolitan's view of the Iranian republic. Rejecting the dichotomy of "traditional" and "modern" Iran as colonialist, Dabashi offers a passionate though often hyperbolic look at Iranian politics and history.

Iran has a growing movement of young bloggers. This book traces their rise and offers their takes on Iran's politics and future.

Mark Bowden of Black Hawk Down fame gives an in-depth look at what he calls "America's first confrontation with Islamo-fascism"—the 1979 hostage crisis.