# Looking for books on the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980's

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-on-the-iran-iraq-war-of-the-1980s/520406>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [December 8, 2009, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-on-the-iran-iraq-war-of-the-1980s/520406 "2009-12-08T04:37:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-on-the-iran-iraq-war-of-the-1980s/520406/1 "2009-12-08T04:37:51Z")

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I’ve been curious about this conflict for a while, but all I have is _The Lessons of Modern War: The Iran-Iraq War_. My interest is a bit more on the military side than the political stuff, but anything would work. Can anyone recommend any books on the subject?

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**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-on-the-iran-iraq-war-of-the-1980s/520406/2 "2009-12-08T04:44:37Z")

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The book Jarhead is about a US marine’s experience during the war. It was also a movie, but my understanding is that the book differs significantly.

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**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-on-the-iran-iraq-war-of-the-1980s/520406/3 "2009-12-08T04:54:28Z")

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> [@madmonk28](#):
>
> The book Jarhead is about a US marine’s experience during the war. It was also a movie, but my understanding is that the book differs significantly.

Jarhead was about the Gulf War. I think the poster is referring to the war between Iraq and Iran.

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**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-on-the-iran-iraq-war-of-the-1980s/520406/4 "2009-12-08T05:33:58Z")

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See if you can find Efraim Karsh’s The Iran-Iraq War, which is very short (only about 100 pages), but is a summary. Also, while this is more of a look at the politics of the war than the actual military campaigns, Dilip Hiro’s “The Longest War: The Iran-Iraq Millitary Conflict” Also, there’s a chapter in Steven Ward’s “Immortal: A Military History of Iran and its Armed Forces” about the war.

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**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-on-the-iran-iraq-war-of-the-1980s/520406/5 "2009-12-08T06:16:10Z")

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> [@Quintas](#):
>
> Jarhead was about the Gulf War. I think the poster is referring to the war between Iraq and Iran.

Yes. I’m referring to their long conflict in the 1980’s, not the 1991 war.

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**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-books-on-the-iran-iraq-war-of-the-1980s/520406/6 "2009-12-08T07:47:34Z")

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Sorry, just a brain fart, carry on.