Citizen journalist Mike Shiley made a press pass at Kinkos, rented a bulletproof vest and cashed in airline miles to fly to Iraq. Armed with only his camera and a local guide, Shiley traveled the country for two months, interviewing locals and following stories that would never air on the network news.

The result is a startlingly human, non-politicized picture of Iraq, an account of all that Shiley recorded: The people he met, and the small but telling moments in the life of a nation at a crossroads.