Eden Again: Hope in the Marshes of Iraq

Few people realize that southern Iraq is home to one of the world's largest wetlands, similar in scale and significance to the iconic Florida Everglades. Sumerians built the world's first cities on its shores and religious scholars suggest these marshlands as the possible site of the Garden of Eden. But during the 1990s forces other than God or nature intervened when Saddam Hussein intentionally set about destroying this rare watery landscape while massacring tens of thousands of its indigenous people and devastating its rare wildlife. Eden Again is the remarkable story of how the people of the Iraqi marshlands re-flooded their land, restored their beloved homes, and returned to their unique lifestyle so rooted in the marsh ecosystem. Intertwined with this tale of ecological redemption is the author's odyssey as she accompanies her husband on his return to his native Iraq, risking both life and sanity as they struggle to help revive a once-vital ecosystem admidst the turbulence of war and civil chaos. This book is the authoritative account of one of the greatest environmental comeback stories of the 21st century in an area of unsurpassed historical and cultural richness. For anyone interested in nature, ecology, the contemporary Middle East, ancient civilizations, geo-politics, travel, or ethnography, this is a must-read book.