Asian Affairs | 2019
James Barr. Lords of the Desert: Britain’s Struggle with America to Dominate the Middle East
Abstract
James Barr’s well received A Line in the Sand is now followed by this equally dramatic account of Britain’s decline in the Middle East. The whole story will be well known to RSAA members, some of whom were consulted by the author, and are therefore regrettably disqualified from reviewing this book. Much has already been written on the subject, so what is new? The bibliography shows that much use has been made of recently released US records, which bring the story to life with many personal observations showing the importance of the relations – often acid – between the protagonists. Many British records covering the same period are still under wraps, which makes the story more one-sided than it should be – no fault of the author’s.