The Prisoner In His Palace: Saddam Hussein And The Twelve Americans Who Guarded Him

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Synopsis

In the tradition of In Cold Blood and The Executioner’s Song, this haunting, insightful, and surprisingly intimate portrait of Saddam Hussein provides “a brief, but powerful, meditation on the meaning of evil and power” (USA TODAY).

The “captivating” (Military Times) The Prisoner in His Palace invites us to take a journey with twelve young American soldiers in the summer of 2006. Shortly after being deployed to Iraq, they learn their assignment: guarding Saddam Hussein in the months before his execution.

Living alongside, and caring for, their “high value detainee and regularly transporting him to his raucous trial, many of the men begin questioning some of their most basic assumptions—about the judicial process, Saddam’s character, and the morality of modern war. Although the young soldiers’ increasingly intimate conversations with the once-feared dictator never lead them to doubt his responsibility for unspeakable crimes, the men do discover surprising new layers to his psyche that run counter to the media’s portrayal of him.

Woven from firsthand accounts provided by many of the American guards, government officials, interrogators, scholars, spies, lawyers, family members, and victims, The Prisoner in His Palace shows two Saddams coexisting in one person: the defiant tyrant who uses torture and murder as tools, and a shrewd but contemplative prisoner who exhibits surprising affection, dignity, and courage in the face of looming death.

In this thought-provoking narrative, Saddam, known as the “man without a conscience,” gets many of those around him to examine theirs. “A singular study exhibiting both military duty and human compassion” (Kirkus Reviews), The Prisoner in His Palace grants us “a behind-the-scenes look at history that’s nearly impossible to put down…a mesmerizing glimpse into the final moments of a brutal tyrant’s life” (BookPage).

Chapters

  • ThePrisonerInHisPalace 21 Ch14

    Duration: 05min
  • ThePrisonerInHisPalace 22 Ch15

    Duration: 03min
  • ThePrisonerInHisPalace 23 Part3 Ch16

    Duration: 08min
  • ThePrisonerInHisPalace 24 Ch17

    Duration: 08min
  • ThePrisonerInHisPalace 25 Ch18

    Duration: 19min
  • ThePrisonerInHisPalace 26 Ch19

    Duration: 09min
  • ThePrisonerInHisPalace 27 Ch20

    Duration: 05min
  • ThePrisonerInHisPalace 28 Ch21

    Duration: 14min
  • ThePrisonerInHisPalace 29 Ch22

    Duration: 08min
  • ThePrisonerInHisPalace 30 Ch23

    Duration: 24min
  • ThePrisonerInHisPalace 31 Ch24

    Duration: 13min
  • ThePrisonerInHisPalace 32 Ch25

    Duration: 11min
  • ThePrisonerInHisPalace 33 Ch26

    Duration: 24min
  • ThePrisonerInHisPalace 34 Ch27

    Duration: 11min
  • ThePrisonerInHisPalace 35 Ch28

    Duration: 13min
  • ThePrisonerInHisPalace 36 Ch29

    Duration: 13min
  • ThePrisonerInHisPalace 37 Ch30

    Duration: 19min
  • ThePrisonerInHisPalace 38 Ch31

    Duration: 10min
  • ThePrisonerInHisPalace 39 Ch32

    Duration: 07min
  • ThePrisonerInHisPalace 40 Ch33

    Duration: 09min
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