Saddam: The Rise and Fall of a Brutal Regime

By Gordon J. MacKenzie

For three decades Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq through fear, patronage and war. Rising from a violent childhood in a dusty village near Tikrit, he clawed his way into the Ba'ath Party, mastered the dark arts of security and coup-making, and finally seized the presidency in 1979 with a televised purge that announced the true nature of his regime.

Saddam: The Rise and Fall of a Brutal Regime follows his story from the underground safe houses of Baghdad to the palaces on the Tigris, the trenches of the Iran-Iraq War, the burning oilfields of Kuwait, the long sanctions decade and the final US invasion that ended his rule. Drawing on eyewitness accounts, human-rights investigations and the dictator's own recorded conversations, this book shows how one man's insecurity and ambition warped an entire state.

Gordon J. Mackenzie cuts through propaganda and mythology to examine Saddam as he was: a talented thug with a state budget, a survivor who mistook survival for genius, and a ruler whose choices left Iraq shattered long after he dropped through the gallows trapdoor. This is not just the story of a dictator, but of the ruined country he left behind.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0G5J5M3SY
• ISBN13: 9798277749913
• Release Date: December 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 116 Pages
• Weight: 0.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"