In 1958, when Haifa Zangana was just eight years old, Iraqis flooded the streets in celebration of their newfound independence from British rule. Zangana came of age in one of the most open societies in the Middle East until it was shut down in the 1970s by the tyrannical Ba'ath Party. In City of Widows, she tells the story of her country, from the early 20th century through to the current occupation, bringing to light a sense of Iraq as a society mainly of secularists who have been denied the chance to build the country according to their own values.
