The King of the Desert: The Anglo-American Struggle for Hegemony in the Middle East [Oracle Bones]

Since the earliest written records, the Middle East has been a stage for great powers to compete. In the first half of the twentieth century, Britain and France were the main rivals for influence in the region. In 1946, Britain secretly backed Lebanese and Syrian nationalists in driving out the French, but the joy of victory soon faded with the arrival of a new rival: the United States.

On questions such as who should own the Middle East’s oil, who should control the Suez Canal, and whether to support Arab nationalism or Zionism, the United States and Britain held opposing views. They were no longer allies. The United States even encouraged and exploited widespread anti-British sentiment in the Middle East, bringing British rule there to an end and ushering in a new order dominated by America. Drawing on newly declassified documents, historian James Barr argues that the United States was the hidden force behind Britain’s withdrawal from the Middle East, and that nearly every problem now troubling the region is a direct consequence of decades of disastrous foreign policy by the United States and Britain.