MONUMENT: ART AND VULGARITY IN SADDAM HUSSEIN'S IRAQ

The Monument is a study of the interplay between art and politics -- of how culture, normally an unquestioned good, can play into the hands of power with devastating effects. Kanan Makiya uses the culture invented by Saddam Hussein as a window into the nature of totalitarianism and shows how art can become the weapon of dictatorship. Under Saddam Hussein, culture connived in his evil -- The Monument explains how. It is essential reading for anyone concerned with the power of culture and the culture of power.