Contents -- Foreword -- Cast of characters -- Captive narratives: a brief and unexceptional introduction to the history of firms and states -- Part 1. The nearest faraway place -- Arabian frontiers -- American camp -- The wizards of Dhahran -- Part 2. Desire's empty quarter -- Ayyam al-Kadalak...

The policy of containment -- How the sanctions worked -- The influence of the United States -- The problem of holds -- The magnitude of the catastrophe -- Tensions at the United Nations -- The role of the Iraqi government -- Congress and the sanctions -- The oil for food scandal -- Inside the...