Farewell, Babylon: Coming of Age in Jewish Baghdad
In Farewell, Babylon, Naim Kattan takes readers into the heart of exotic mid-19th-century Baghdad's then-teeming Jewish community. Jews had lived in Iraq for 25 centuries, long before the time of Christ or Muhammad, but anti-Semitism and nationalism were on the rise. In this beautifully written memoir, a young boy comes of age and describes his discoveries — of work, literature, patriotism, the joys of lazy Sundays swimming in the Tigris. He also talks eloquently of his greatest discovery: women and love. This is a story of roots and exile, of thirst for life and life's experiences. However, more than that it is a tribute to a lost world, an ancient Eastern city in which Iraq’s Kurds, Bedouins, Sunnis, Shiites, Chaldeans, Catholics, and Jews all lived together in a rough, rewarding sort of harmony.
- Author
- Naim Kattan, Sheila Fischman
- Format
- paperback
- Pages
- 222
- Publisher
- Raincoast Books
- Language
- english
- ISBN
- 9781551927992
- Genres
- history, jewish, memoir
- Release date
- 2006
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