Amanda Roraback

Los Angeles Times Bestseller Everything you need to know about Iraq in a nutshell! From the region's ancient history to the 2007 surge, "Iraq in a Nutshell" offers everything one needs to know in order to understand Iraq's contemporary role in global politics. The author uses highlighted terms, simple, short paragraphs, maps and sidebars to make "Iraq in a Nutshell" an easy-to-read resource.  Amanda Roraback is a historian, and the author of the Nutshell Notes series of books including: "Iraq in a Nutshell," "Iran in a Nutshell," "Islam in a Nutshell," "Israel-Palestine in a Nutshell," "Afghanistan in a Nutshell," and "Pakistan in a Nutshell." She has appeared as a guest on CSPAN, KTLA, Voice of America, Fox and other radio/TV venues. Roraback is also the author of the news site, worldinanutshell.com

"Get your facts straight first," advised Mark Twain, but facts can be devilishly elusive -- and never more so as when they are needed immediately. That's the beauty of Amanda Roraback's "Nutshell" series. Most everything one would want to know about a country -- its history, government, economy, social composition, religion, languages and more -- is covered in cleanly written précis brimming with important and fascinating data. And it's packaged in a user-friendly paperback.

Michael J. Bonafield
Minneapolis Star Tribune