Lords of the Desert

"Excellent...Mr. Barr draws on a rich and varied trove of sources to knit a sequence of dramatic episodes into an elegant whole...What is greatly to his credit...is the total absence of moral posturing and ideological partisanship...The 1953 coup against Mosaddegh...reads like a page-turning spy thriller."

"Barr has mined memoirs and archives to add fresh detail to his remarkable and dispiriting story...[His] canvas is large, and he daubs it with colour and human interest...Admirably researched."

"Beautifully written and deeply researched...Lords of the Desert goes far beyond classic diplomatic history...superbly illustrating the constraints of Britain's decline and America's inexorable rise."

"If you're wondering why things are so intractably turbulent in places like Syria and Iraq, some suggestive answers emerge from Barr's book...[Barr] explains much about America's relations with the Arab world-and with Britain."

"Brilliant, detached and eye-opening...A gripping tale of diplomatic legerdemain, political hypocrisy and, once the intelligence boys got going, derring-do."

"A stern indictment of imperial shenanigans in the region...Lords of the Desert bustles impressively with detail and anecdote."

"Barr contrasts the bumbling self-importance of the British officials with the ignorant over-confidence of their American counterparts...Consistently fascinating."

"If your'e wondering why things are so intractably turbulent in places like Syria and Iraq, some suggestive answers emerge from Barr's book.... Of considerable interest to students of geopolitics, one that explains much about America's relations with the Arab world--and with Britain."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"An essential book for understanding the modern Middle East--and a thrilling read to boot."

"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."