Reclaiming a Plundered Past: Archaeology and Nation Building in Modern Iraq

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS O ne of the many joys of publishing a book is to publicly acknowledge the people and institutions who made this project possible. The book started at Yale University as a doctoral dissertation, which I completed in 1999. To my advisor and mentor, Professor Abbas Amanat, I owe the greatest debt of gratitude. His creative and insightful intellect, warm personality, generosity, and relentless enthusiasm were a constant inspiration that made this project worthwhile and enjoyable. He initially suggested this topic, and his sharp and artistic historical erudition greatly aided its development from a mere idea, into a dissertation, and finally into a book. I am truly fortunate to have him as my constant critic, role model, and friend. In addition, I am grateful to the other members of my dissertation committee. Professor Benjamin R. Foster’s vigorous, yet constructive, criticism and intellectual wisdom helped me formulate my own thinking about this project. I have also benefited from the reliable advice of Professor Frank M. Turner, who seems to have read everything by and about the Victorians. I would also like to thank numerous other people in the Yale community : Ulla Kasten of the Yale Babylonian Collection; Simon Samoeil of Yale’s Sterling Memorial Library; Lamin Sanneh at Yale Divinity School; Maryam Sanjabi; and those who were fellow graduate students at the time, such as Shahzad Bashir, Ahmed al-Rahim, Roger Kenna, Amir Arsalan Afkhami, Michael Rubin, Joshua Kronen, Heidi Walcher, and Arash Khazeni. While I was conducting my doctoral research and while I was revising this book for publication, I was much enlightened by stimulating and informative conversations with Professor P. R. S. Moorey (Oxford University), Professor Joan Oates (Cambridge University), F. N. H. al-Rawi (London), Abdul Amir al-Alawi (London), Lamia al-Gaylani Werr (London), Najdat Safwat (London), Venetia Porter (London), Professor Charles Tripp (London), Professor Eric Davis (Rutgers University), Professor Tom Patterson (Temple University), Professor Beth Kangas (Michigan State), Reeva Simon (Columbia University), Professor Jim Goode (Grand Valley State University), Mia Bloom (New York), and Joseph Greene (Harvard University). I am also thankful to Fadel Jabr for his insights. While at Hofstra University, where I started revising the dissertation, I benefited from conversations and support from Dean Bernard Firestone and my colleagues Sally Charnow, Dan Varisco, Simon Doubleday, Carolyn Eisenberg, Louis Kern, Stan Pugliese, and Susan Yohn. I would also like to thank my new colleagues in the History Department at Williams College for their interest and support. Finally, I have benefited greatly from the friendship of and endless conversations with Professor Michelle Hartman (McGill University). None of the people named above bears any responsibility for the opinions expressed in this book or for its shortcomings. For these, I am alone responsible. I would also like to thank the archivists, librarians, and curators at the University of Newcastle, University of Hull, St. Anthony’s College at Oxford, the British Museum Central Archives, the British Library, Harvard University, Rockefeller Center Archives, University Museum at the University of Pennsylvania, the Public Records Office in London, and Yale University for their assistance. Special thanks to Dominic Collon at the British Museum and also to Professor William Cleveland. Financial support came from Yale Graduate School, the Department of History at Yale, the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the Whiting Foundation, the Smith Richardson Fellowship at Yale’s International Security Studies Program, the Yale Center for International and Area Studies, the Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the Bernadotte E. Schmitt grant of the American Historical Association. I would also like to thank the committee at Yale that awarded the dissertation the prestigious Theron Rockwell Field prize at my commencement in 2000. I am also grateful to the anonymous reviewers who read this manuscript for the University of Texas Press for their numerous suggestions. I am also very thankful to Jim Burr at Texas for his patience and support. x RECLAIMING A PLUNDERED PAST Finally, on a more personal note, I do not really know how to thank my parents, Bernhardur and Rannveig, who instilled an early love for books and ideas and have always been supportive of all my endeavors. My grandfather, Dr. Sigurbjörn Einarsson, has had a profound influence on my thinking. His exemplary lifestyle and profound knowledge of comparative religions are a source of inspiration. My grandmothers Magnea and the late Svava have likewise been admirable role models. My brother Sigurbjörn and my sister...