The Monument: Art and Vulgarity in Saddam Hussein's Iraq

(Paperback)

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In Baghdad, an enormous monument nearly twice the size of the Arc de Triomphe towers over the city. Two huge forearms emerge from the ground, clutching two swords that clash overhead. Those arms are enlarged casts of those of Saddam Hussein, showing every bump and follicle. The "Victory Arch" celebrates a victory over Iran (in their eight-year-long war) that never happened. This text is a study of the interplay between art and politics - of how culture, normally an unquestioned good, can play into the hands of a power with devastating effects. Kanan Makiya uses the culture invented by Saddam Hussein as a window into the nature of totalitarianism and shows how art can become the weapon of dictatorship. Under Saddam Hussein, culture connived in his evil - this text explains how. It should be useful reading for anyone concerned with the power of culture and the culture of power.

Reviews

"Brilliant and moving. The kind of totalitarian propaganda discussed by Makiya is relevant not only to explain the grip of power of Saddam Hussein but to other Arab countries." -Peter Partner, The New York Review of Books "...elegantly savage critique of Saddam Hussein's architectural follies... His book deserves to rank with the classic analyses of Nazi and Stalinist art: superb, as a study of kitsch, a study of tyranny - and an account of why the latter always loves the former." -Boyd Tonkin, The Independent "The Monument provides an unusual and groundbreaking examination of the cultural control that Saddam Hussein exercised on his people, and the importance of his so-called artistic legacy... shows how art can become the weapon of dictatorship." -Fred Rhodes, The Middle East Magazine "Makiya writes stridently, but he is also capable of patient rational analysis unravelling what the Monument teaches about the abuse of art for political purposes." -Robert Hillenbrand, Times Literary Supplement

Author Bio

Kanan Makiya is one of Iraq's leading dissidents. He is the author of the highly acclaimed 'Republic of Fear,' ' Cruelty and Silence' and 'The Rock.' He directs the Iraq Research and Documentation Project at Harvard University, and is a Professor at Brandeis.