This work is a follow-up to Michael Gunter's earlier book, The Kurds of Iraq:Tragedy and Hope (St. Martin's Press, 1992). In that book, which was publishedshortly after the first democratic elections in Iraqi Kurdistan and the subsequent establishment ofthe Kurdish regional government (KRG), Gunter was somewhat optimistic about the prospectsfor realizing Kurdish national aspirations in Iraq. The book under review, however, strikes a morepessimistic tone based on political developments in Iraqi Kurdistan in the 1990s. The main focusof the book is on the causes of continuing conflict between the two major Iraqi Kurdishparties—namely, the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union ofKurdistan (PUK)—since the end of the 1991 Gulf War and the establishment of theautonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq. The author uses a variety of sources, includinginterviews with principal Kurdish players and English-language publications.