Introduction by Susan Meiselas -- Before the great war : travelers and missionaries as witness -- From empires to nation-states -- Conflicting claims on eastern Turkey -- British occupation of Mesopotamia and the creation of Iraq -- Resistance to centralization in Iran -- Rebellions in Turkey -- Under the Iraqi monarchy -- The Kurdish Republic of Mahabad -- A Kurdish state -- Uneasy coexistence -- Order restored in Iraq -- The monarchy consolidates in Iran -- Behind the Iron Curtain -- Identity contested in Turkey -- Armed struggle for autonomy -- The republic of Iraq -- The Islamic revolution in Iran -- The military takes control in Turkey -- After the Cold War -- From genocide to safe haven in Iraq -- Polarization in Turkey -- Epilogue -- Postscript, ten years later.