This paper will consider the ways in which Baghdad in the 1940s and 1950s is remembered today. Based on contemporary Iraqi newspaper accounts, popular journal articles, photography collections and oral histories of Iraqis this paper will argue that due to the chaotic and violent situation in Baghdad today, many Iraqis seek refuge in the memory of a more peaceful, progressive, and revolutionary Baghdad. Yet this nostalgic depiction stands in contrast with the reality of the political violence, corruption, and unequal distribution of wealth of earlier decades. The bridge between these opposing poles and contradictions, I will argue, is nostalgic nationalism. In the case of Iraq, history and memories of the past are heavily influenced by nostalgic sentiments that may have little or no relation with what actually happened. In nostalgic nationalism, these nostalgic emotions find their way into a rational, intellectual system and worldview: nationalism. Together they provide a compelling, and safe, interpretation of the past. The nostalgic nationalism of 1950s and 60s Baghdad is an integral part of an Iraqi modernity. Longing for a lost past is not merely about recreating a “utopia” of earlier decades but is rather based on a progressive concept of time that is forward looking but at the same time seems to assume the possibility of reverse trajectories. It remembers a youthful past in which the individual remembers him or herself as an idealistic young person brimming with potential. By looking back they see now that all of their dreams did not materialize. Yet they remember a time when they were optimistic and had faith in the future. Nostalgic nationalism is thus both linear and circular. Progress and disappointment are alter egos forming a dialectic that creates a new synthesis in which the spirit of the past is invoked in hopes for the future. Nostalgic nationalism strives to re-create that optimism – that innocent and youthful naïveté that the future will inevitably bring better times.