This book is a portrait of Iraq during May of 2003. A first-person journey into war-torn Baghdad, it is designed for three kinds of readers. First, for readers that are interested in learning important information about the war that the mainstream media will never report. Second, it is for readers with an historical interest in Iraq, and an interest in the cultural and personal events of this important event that will shape the future of the culture of the Middle East. Third it is for readers interested in learning about the personal lives of Iraqis and for understanding the similarities that all families, friends, and strangers share, regardless of whether they are American or Iraqi. In May of 2003 I hitch-hiked North out of the industrialized sprawl of Kuwait City into um-Qasr, Iraq. For the following weeks I visited Basra where ex Ba'ath party members were being executed on street corners, and familes were moving into recently-evacuated torture cells. Taking a rather large sum of money with me I continued north to Baghdad, where (among the palaces, gun markets, and bombing) I was educated on cultural imperialism by Salaam Pax, "The Baghdad Blogger" and made bread in the back yard with the family I lived with while there. In the heart of darkness I met Taximan Ali, who taught me what is important in life and why, really, I had gone in the first place. Mark Stephen Meadows is an artist and writer. He currently lives on a boat in Los Angeles.