Author(s): Con Coughlin

Biography

Revolutionary, president, fugitive and captive, Saddam Hussein was a dominant force in Middle Eastern politics for many years. In this New York Times bestseller, Con Coughlin draws on an unparalleled network of sources to explore Saddam's life, from his humble birth to his rise to power and eventual capture by American forces in 2003.

Coughlin recounts Saddam's regime, in which the dictator tried to control every aspect of Iraqi life. He also explores the many contradictions in Saddam's character, including his support of fundamentalist Islam while in private he drank alcohol and was a womanizer, as well as his celebration of the family, which was contradicted by his violent and unpredictable treatment of his own relatives. Insightful, penetrating and shocking, Con Coughlin has written the defining biography of one of the most dangerous men of the last two decades.

Con Coughlin is one of Britain's leading journalists. He is Defense and Security Editor for London's Daily Telegraph and is a frequent commentator for British and American news and current affairs programs. He was one of CNN's official contributors during the war in Iraq and is presently a political commentator for NBC and MSNBC.

"An engrossing account of how a semi-educated peasant boy advanced to power through the bloodstained shoals of Iraqi revolutionary politics. Chilling." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review

--Publishers Weekly