Lords of the Desert

Britain's Struggle with America to Dominate the Middle East

De: James Barr

Narrado por: Peter Noble

'Beautifully written and deeply researched' The Observer

Upon victory in 1945, Britain still dominated the Middle East. 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.

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.

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'Bustles impressively with detail and anecdote' Sunday Times

‘Consistently fascinating’ The Spectator

'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 Journal

Reseñas de la Crítica

'Masterful'

'With superb research and telling quotations, Barr has skewered the whole shabby story'

'Lively and entertaining. He has scoured the diplomatic archives of the two powers and has come up with a rich haul that brings his narrative to life'

'A masterful account of Anglo-American rivalries that shaped the modern Middle East after WWII—brilliant storytelling with a rich cast of characters, Lords of the Desert is irresistible reading.' (Eugene Rogan, author of The Fall of the Ottomans)

'With its oil and its waterways, the Middle East was and remains a first step for any rising world power, and also the final trap for empires on the decline. In this lively page-turner, Barr unearths the obscure history of our disastrous engagement with the Middle East today—and of our own imperial decline.' (Elizabeth F. Thompson, Mohamed S. Farsi Chair of Islamic Peace, American University)

'Many of the events in this book will be familiar, but instead of presenting them from the more usual perspectives of the Cold war confrontation between the US and Russia, or Imperial withdrawal, James Barr considers them instead from the angle of US-British rivalry. This is refreshing, but it is perhaps also closer to the angle from which many contemporaries would have considered the Suez canal crisis of 1956 or the coup that removed Mohammad Mosaddeq in 1953, for example. This book is therefore not just an excellent, lively account of salient events in this period in the history of the Middle East; it also opens up some new ways to think about them.' (Michael Axworthy, author of A History of Iran: Empire of the Mind)

'In this compelling new book, James Barr recalls a now forgotten story of British-American competition for power in the Middle East during and after their victory in the Second World War. This is essential, gripping history with major relevance for those who wish to understand that tortured region today.' (Nicholas Burns, Professor, Harvard University and former Under Secretary of State)

'High adventure and covert action meet in this account of a momentous power shift that decisively shaped today’s world. Lords of the Desert reshapes our understanding of the modern Middle East—and also helps explain how the United States became a global power.' (Stephen Kinzer, author of All the Shah’s Men and Overthrow)

'James Barr lifts the curtain on British plotting and intrigue in the Middle East. A wonderful raconteur, Barr brings to life the characters whose schemes and miscalculations brought an end to Britain as a great power. Meticulously researched, Lords of the Desert provides ample evidence as to why people in Middle Eastern countries remain so suspicious of Western intentions. A superb book.' (Emma Sky, author of The Unraveling)

Anglo-American rivalry in the ME in a nutshell

This book is a direct follow-up on the author's previous work, "The Line in the Sand", chronicling Anglo-French rivalry in the Middle East 1914-1948. Having listened to the previous one, I was eager to get into this. It didn't disappoint. The author is still superb in condensing very complicated processes to digestable form, and his analysis is always pointed, concise and well-grounded (the book version's footnotes and sources give you the impression that it is well-researched). The characters and their motives are again crystall clear, making this a more enjoyable piece of literature, than a great deal of actual fiction. The story it tells, while simple is also quite engrossing: how a retreating and an advancing imperial power, allies globally stick it to each other, whenever their interests clash (altough that format worked a bit better with the British and French, as they were more or less equal in terms of strength, while the great disparity between Britain and the US in the postwar period is clearly from the beginning - still, the author promotes facts over comfortable narratives).

What feels missing is the "natives". Although the various Arabic actors' points of view are clearly explained (be it individuals, like Nasser, or countries like Egypt), perhaps the book could have benefitted from inserting the "objects" of imperial rivalry more into the story. Or even outsiders, like the Iranese and the Soviets. The sources themselves show a picture of English-language orientedness, British and US archives, as well as English-language literature are listed, but not others (although the author clearly reads French). So, this is not an all-encompassing journey, but for what it is, it is very good indeed.

I was looking forward to the narration as well, which didn't disappoint at all. Peter Noble - as with the previous title - does a superb job, and deserves the ultimate praise for a narrator: he is not only clearly legible, but makes the story more, rather, than less interesting for the listener.