Mutanabi Street

Booksellers on Baghdad's Mutanabi Street were recently hit by a suicide bomber. This is only the latest in a string of attacks on the area, but it strikes at the cultural heart of Iraq. The International Herald Tribune said of the street: "The book market along Mutanabi Street was a throwback to the Baghdad of old, the days of students browsing for texts, turbaned clerics hunting down religious tomes and cafe intellectuals debating politics over backgammon."

There are some good reports on the street available online. Here's an optimistic NPR story from December, 2003 and a much less cheerful one from The Washington Post in September, 2006.

While it won't directly help the folks on Mutanabi Street, there is a group called Books for Baghdad which accepts donations of textbooks, calculators, computer, medical school supplies, and other types of school supplies. (You can also read an article about the group here.)