The story of the wartime expediency, double-dealing, and dynastic ambition that shaped the modern Middle East.

Robert McNamara is a lecturer in International History at the University of Ulster at Coleraine. His teaching and research interests lie in the relationship between the Great Powers and the Middle East, and British foreign and imperial policy in the20th century. His publications include Britain, Nasser and the Balance of Power in the Middle East from the Egyptian Revolution to the Six-Day War(2003).