Balazs Bocz
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Lords of the Desert
- Britain's Struggle with America to Dominate the Middle East
- De: James Barr
- Narrado por: Peter Noble
- Duración: 14 h y 7 m
- Versión completa
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General4.5 out of 5 stars 21
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Narración:5 out of 5 stars 18
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Historia4.5 out of 5 stars 17
Within a single generation, between 1945 and 1970, America replaced Britain as the dominant power in the Middle East. By any standard, it was an extraordinary role reversal, and it was one that came with very little warning. Starting in the 19th century, Britain had first established themselves as protector of the sheikhdoms along the southern shore of the Persian Gulf, before acquiring Aden, Cyprus and then Egypt and the Sudan.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Anglo-American rivalry in the ME in a nutshell
- De Balazs Bocz en 03-25-21
- Lords of the Desert
- Britain's Struggle with America to Dominate the Middle East
- De: James Barr
- Narrado por: Peter Noble
Anglo-American rivalry in the ME in a nutshell
Revisado: 03-25-21
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.
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