Disclosure : This site contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.

Lords of the Desert: Britain`s Struggle with America to Dominate the Middle East

“Bustles impressively with detail and anecdote” Sunday Times”Beautifully written and deeply researched” The Observer”Barr draws on a rich and varied trove of sources to knit a sequence of dramatic episodes into an elegant whole. Great events march through these pages” Wall Street JournalUpon victory in 1945, Britain still dominated the Middle East. She directly ruled Palestine and Aden, was the kingmaker in Iran, the power behind the thrones of Egypt, Iraq and Jordan, and protected the sultan of Oman and the Gulf sheikhs. But her motives for wanting to dominate this crossroads between Europe, Asia and Africa were changing. Where `imperial security` – control of the route to India – had once been paramount, now oil was an increasingly important factor. So, too, was prestige. Ironically, the very end of empire made control of the Middle East precious in itself: on it hung Britain`s claim to be a great power.Unable to withstand Arab and Jewish nationalism, within a generation the British were gone. But that is not the full story. What ultimately sped Britain on her way was the uncompromising attitude of the United States, which was determined to displace the British in the Middle East.The British did not give in gracefully to this onslaught. Using newly declassified records and long-forgotten memoirs, including the diaries of a key British spy, James Barr tears up the conventional interpretation of this era in the Middle East, vividly portraying the tensions between London and Washington, and shedding an uncompromising light on the murkier activities of a generation of American and British diehards in the region, from the battle of El Alamein in 1942 to Britain`s abandonment of Aden in 1967. Reminding us that the Middle East has always served as the arena for great power conflict, this is the tale of an internecine struggle in which Britain would discover that her most formidable rival was the ally she had assumed would be her closest friend.

Related Products:

A Line in the Sand: Britain, France and the Struggle that Shaped the Middle East America`s Great Game: The CIA`s Secret Arabists and the Shaping of the Modern Middle East The Hollow Crown: A History of Britain in the Late Middle Ages The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East, 1914-1920 The Multiple Identities of the Middle East A Short History Of The Middle East In A Time Of Monsters: Travels Through a Middle East in Revolt What`s Really Wrong with the Middle East The New Middle East: The World After the Arab Spring Generation Revolution: On the Frontline Between Tradition and Change in the Middle East The Age of Jihad: Islamic State and the Great War for the Middle East A History of the Middle East: 5th Edition Misadventure in the Middle East: Travels as Tramp, Artist & Spy A Brief History of the Middle East A Quest in the Middle East: Gertrude Bell and the Making of Modern Iraq The Battle for Syria: International Rivalry in the New Middle East Persiana: Recipes from the Middle East & Beyond Field Guide to Birds of the Middle East Shifting Sands: The Unravelling of the Old Order in the Middle East Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir Middle East Cookery The Atlantic Ocean: Essays on Britain and America Cathedrals of Britain: London and the South East 2020/21 Pacific, Asia and Middle East – Superyacht Services Guide The Tail Wags the Dog: International Politics and the Middle East Six Days: How the 1967 War Shaped the Middle East The Man Who Created the Middle East: A Story of Empire, Conflict and the Sykes-Picot Agreement Frontline Turkey: The Conflict at the Heart of the Middle East Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons: Enchanting Dishes from the Middle East, Mediterranean and North Africa Contested Lands – A History of the Middle East since the First World War Pocket Photo Guide to the Mammals of North Africa and the Middle East Beware of Small States – Lebanon, Battleground of the Middle East Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution The Mezze Cookbook: Sharing Plates from the Middle East Middle East: Maps International Political Wall Map Making the Arab World: Nasser, Qutb, and the Clash That Shaped the Middle East Birds of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East: A Photographic Guide Arabia: A Journey Through The Heart of the Middle East Lonely Planet Middle East Sweets & Desserts from the Middle East