Author tells of teaching job in Iraq

ELVIS IS TITANIC: Classroom Tales From the Other Iraq. By Ian Klaus. Knopf. 242 pages. $24.

Calm down, Presley fans. Yes, we know Elvis is titanic, but Ian Klaus' book isn't yet another attempt to cash in on the king. It's an autobiographical account of Klaus' short-lived teaching job in Iraq.

The Rhodes scholar goes to Salahaddin University, Kurdistan, to lecture on U.S. history and English to a large mixture of students.

There are shy young women in their hejabs, excitable young men eager to learn and extremists eager to argue.

Klaus teaches the dark side of American history, as well as the positive side; he tells his students about the country's civil rights struggles alongside its political victories and rock 'n' roll rebels (including the titanic Elvis).

Although the students are attentive and the author's presence is appreciated, his life is always in danger.

He befriends his two bodyguards, who keep in touch with him long after he becomes a visible target for fundamentalists and has to leave Kurdistan.

But Klaus' real conflicts occur in the classroom, where he finds his students firm in their belief that America is occupying Iraq for its oil, not solely for humanitarian reasons.

An uneven, nonlinear mix of personal anecdotes and sociological lectures, this book is nevertheless a good primer on Iraqi Kurdistan.

It's accessible enough to leave readers eager to learn more, just like Klaus' students.