Taking Mesopotamia was originally inspired by Jenny Lewis&;s search for her lost father&;the young South Wales Borderer who led his troops across the desert by starlight in the ill-fated Mesopotamian campaign of World War I. Through reconstructed diary extracts, witness statements, and a mixture of formal poems and free verse, the book extends into a wider exploration of the recent Iraq war seen from a woman&;s point of view&;the horror of sons and daughters being sent into battle, the struggles of widows and orphans. Woven through the personal and geopolitical content is a more ancient strand inspired by The Epic of Gilgamesh, the world&;s first piece of written literature, whose themes of hubris, abuse of power, and fear of death show us how little the world has changed in 4,000 years.