Charles Tripp, in his excellent book A History of Iraq, examines the means by which the Iraqi state consolidated its position throughout the country in the 20th century and, just as important, how individual Iraqis used “strategies of co-operation, subversion and resistance” (p. 1) to benefit from its services or to combat its ever-increasing power. While acknowledging that a number of alternative historical narratives can be studied, Tripp specifically places his analysis within a state-centric framework because of the pivotal role Iraq's governmental institutions and leaders have played in reconfiguring the centers of power in the country. As a result of successive governmental activities, the state became the focal point for political power and competition, just as an increasingly narrow group of Iraqis came to hold the reins of that power.