The Past — Richard Moore

What is it about this small sliver of our earth, a place the ancients called Nahrain? To the eye it appears little more than some modest mountains, portent desert, and antediluvian rivers carved through limestone over eons. But why here was it man's reasoning first turned the corner to become knowledge? What was it that its conquerors coveted down through history, and keeps more conquerors coming back even unto today? And why here did the God of Abraham choose to spark great enduring leaps of faith before they rippled to every corner of our planet? Tribes of the Nahrain is an intricate journey through recent Iraqi history as seen through the eyes, words and stories of people who lived, experienced and, in part, made it. For most it was a time of vehement conflict, ethnic and religious upheaval, genocide, rising and then rampant jihadism, rabid tribalism, and western meddling; for a few a time of opportunity. Each of their stories begins here; somewhere in the recent past. How does a young farmer take the path of becoming a jihadist and terrorist? Why the mortal conflict between Christians, Muslims and Sunni and Shi'ia when all worship the same God? What of dabbling by the West in Iraqi wars and politics; how could they have missed what was coming? Their stories offer a distinctly different view of events and history when the eyes are Arab, Kurdish, Assyrian, Turkmen, Iranian or a host of other tribal peoples who have staked their claims throughout recorded history to the Nahrain â€" ‘Land of the Rivers'.