A girl carrying fresh water in Hababa
Clean water supplies would free her to go to school.
Clean water supplies would free her to go to school.
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
About the author
- James Barr
- is a British historian. My latest book is A Line In The Sand: Britain, France and the Struggle for the Middle East. It tells the story of the increasingly vicious struggle between Britain and France for control of the Middle East, between 1915 and 1949. It follows Setting the Desert on Fire: TE Lawrence and Britain's secret war in Arabia, 1916-1918.
Reviews of the book
“tightly focused, fast-paced ... Barr's achievement is to tell Lawrence's story more clearly and objectively, helping to make sense of a complex war fought in an unfamiliar land and language” - New York Sun
“This fast-paced history book, filled with saber-rattling sheiks, soldiers from Britain and France, spies and courtly diplomats, is a thriller” - New York Post
“This fast-paced history book, filled with saber-rattling sheiks, soldiers from Britain and France, spies and courtly diplomats, is a thriller” - New York Post
“gripping ... a colorful slice of the past affecting the present” - Chicago Tribune
“Barr tells a ... fascinating tale and turns history into a drama, with bright writing and a fascinating cast of characters" - Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“A good read which does much to explain the events you are reading about elsewhere in the paper today” - Washington Times
“no dry tale ... sets history of the Middle East into illuminating perspective” - San Jose Mercury News
“an up-close view of a decisive moment ... exciting and instructive” - Houston Chronicle
“a considerable feat” - The Times
“puts Lawrence centre stage but does not lose sight of the uprising’s larger historical context” - Financial Times
“Expertly delving into this shadowy corner of history, Barr explains why it remains hugely significant in the Middle East” - Independent
“Barr describes [Lawrence’s] exploits with pace and flair, but he also shows how the perception of British bad faith after the war has left a legacy of distrust in the Arab world” - Mail on Sunday
“A masterly account” - Express
“Barr expertly navigates an intriguing landscape of shifting alliances and labyrinthine politics peopled with eccentric characters to demystify a fascinating legend” - Publishers Weekly
“a masterful job ... For the reader interested in contemporary affairs, a review of Barr's last two chapters and epilogue would suffice in providing an excellent background in the history relevant to the modern Middle East's relationship with the West.” - Dartmouth Review
“compact, scrupulously accurate ... An excellent general history of a widely misunderstood struggle that largely defined the shape of the modern Middle East” - Booklist
“lively, well-balanced ... provides a clear, engaging history of a crucial period” - Library Journal
Labels
- 16 Air Assault Brigade (1)
- 2 Rifles (1)
- 26 January 2006 (1)
- 3 Para (1)
- A Line In The Sand (2)
- A short guide to Iraq (1)
- ABC (2)
- Abdul Mejid II (1)
- Abdullah (1)
- Abu Ayyub al-Masri (1)
- Abu Hamza al-Mujahir (1)
- acclimatisation (1)
- aerial reconnaissance (1)
- Afghan National Police (1)
- Afghanistan (12)
- Aga Khan (1)
- Ahmadinejad (1)
- Aidan Hartley (1)
- Al Fanar (1)
- Al Hayat (1)
- Al Qaeda (1)
- Alan Johnston (2)
- Amman (1)
- Anbar Awakening (2)
- Antiochus (1)
- Anzac Day (1)
- aphy (1)
- Arab nationalism (1)
- Arab Revolt (3)
- Arab Spring (1)
- Arabists (1)
- archaeology (3)
- Archives (2)
- Armenian genocide (1)
- Australian War Memorial (3)
- Awakening Councils (2)
- Azerbaijan (1)
- Baalbek (1)
- Balfour declaration (1)
- Bashar Assad (4)
- Basra Palace (1)
- Bayil stones (1)
- BBC Iraq opinion polls (1)
- Ben Macintyre (1)
- Benin bronzes (1)
- Bethlehem (1)
- BFPO (1)
- Big Brother (1)
- book review (4)
- Book Show (1)
- Britain (1)
- British Army (2)
- British Library (2)
- British Medical Association (1)
- British Museum (2)
- British policy (1)
- Caliphate. (1)
- Cambridge University (1)
- casualty statistics (2)
- Central Asia Institute (1)
- Chaim Weizmann (1)
- Charles Townshend (1)
- Charlie Wilson's War (1)
- Chateau de Vincennes (1)
- China (1)
- Christ Church (1)
- Christina Lamb (1)
- Church of the Nativity (1)
- Churchill (4)
- CIA (1)
- civil war (1)
- Clare Short (1)
- combat stress (1)
- Concordia (1)
- Conflicts Forum (3)
- corruption (2)
- Cost of Iraq war (2)
- counter-insurgency (1)
- counterfactual (1)
- coup (1)
- Daily Telegraph (1)
- Damascus (1)
- David Miliband (1)
- David Petraeus (2)
- David Reiff (1)
- David Satterfield (1)
- death toll (1)
- Debbie Challis (1)
- democracy (1)
- Desert of Death (1)
- DFID (3)
- Dispatches (1)
- Diyarbakir (1)
- Edinburgh Book Festival (1)
- education (2)
- Edward Marsh (1)
- Edward Said (1)
- Edward VIII (1)
- electricity (1)
- Elgin Marbles (2)
- Elinor Burkett (1)
- Emile Lahoud (1)
- eradication (1)
- Ethiopia (1)
- faustian pact (1)
- Feisal (2)
- film (1)
- Foreign Affairs (1)
- Foreign aid (1)
- Fourth Crusade (1)
- France (2)
- Francois Georges-Picot (1)
- freedom of expression (1)
- Frontline Club (1)
- Gallipoli (1)
- Gaza (1)
- Georg Gerster (1)
- George Crile (1)
- George W Bush (2)
- Gertrude Bell (3)
- Global Strategy Forum (1)
- globalisation (1)
- Golda Meir (1)
- Gordon Brown (1)
- Great Arab Revolt Project (2)
- great events (1)
- Great War Archaeology Group (1)
- Greg Mortenson (1)
- GWAG (1)
- Hafiz Assad (1)
- haggling (1)
- Hamas (1)
- Hamid Karzai (1)
- Harold Nicolson (1)
- Hay Festival (2)
- Hay-on-Wye (2)
- Helmand (10)
- Hezbollah (1)
- Hijaz (1)
- Hijaz Railway (2)
- History (2)
- Hizb ut-Tahrir (1)
- hotel (1)
- human form (1)
- Imint (1)
- Imperial Life in the Emerald City (1)
- India (1)
- influenza (1)
- inscriptions (1)
- Institute for War and Peace Reporting (1)
- insurgency (2)
- internet access (1)
- Iran (6)
- Iraq (21)
- Iraq in fragments (1)
- Iraqi (1)
- Islamic art (1)
- Islamic decoration (1)
- Israel (1)
- Jamal al-din al-Afghani (1)
- James Barr (9)
- James Longley (1)
- Jerusalem (1)
- John Mearsheimer (1)
- John Reid (1)
- Jordan (3)
- Joseph Stiglitz (1)
- Kajaki (1)
- Kalashnikov index (2)
- Kandahar (1)
- Kashmir (1)
- Kerbela (1)
- key dates (1)
- Kinahan Cornwallis (2)
- kiss (1)
- languages (1)
- Latin (1)
- Lawrence (1)
- Lawrence of Arabia and the Light Horse (1)
- Lawrence of Arabia. Iraq (1)
- Lebanon (5)
- Leo Docherty (1)
- Liam Fox (1)
- Linda Bilmes (1)
- Lloyd George (2)
- London Library (1)
- Madain Saleh (1)
- Madain Salih (1)
- maglev (1)
- Mahmood Abbas (1)
- Mahmood Ahmadinejad (1)
- Maiwand (1)
- Making of the Modern Middle East (2)
- Mark Sykes (1)
- Martin Gilbert (1)
- Mesopotamia (2)
- MI6 (1)
- Michael Ancram (1)
- Michael Yon (1)
- Middle East (1)
- Mike Gayle (1)
- Ministry of Defence (1)
- Mohammed Suleiman (1)
- Moqtada al-Sadr (2)
- Mudawarra (1)
- Mullah Dadullah (1)
- Mullah Ghafour (1)
- Mullah Omar (1)
- Muntader al-Zaidi (1)
- Musa Qala (1)
- National Army Museum (1)
- National Missile Defense (1)
- National Security Archive (2)
- Neil MacGregor (1)
- Nemrut Dagi (1)
- New York Post (1)
- New Yorker (1)
- Nicolas Sarkozy (1)
- Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result (1)
- nuclear weapons (1)
- Nuri al-Maliki (2)
- oil (1)
- Operation Herrick (1)
- Opium poppy (5)
- Osama bin Laden (1)
- Oxford (1)
- Oxford Conflict Conference (1)
- Ozymandias (1)
- Pakistan (1)
- Paris Hilton (1)
- Pashto (1)
- Pashtu (1)
- Percy Bysshe Shelley (1)
- Percy Cox (1)
- Pervez Musharraf (1)
- Photography (19)
- Polly Mohs (1)
- Prince Harry (1)
- protest (1)
- Qabala (1)
- Qasr Amra (1)
- Quasicrystalline design (1)
- Rajiv Chandrasekaran (1)
- Ray Takeyh (1)
- reconstruction (1)
- refugees (1)
- Remembrance Sunday (1)
- Remhai (1)
- representative government (1)
- Restitution (2)
- Reuters Insider (1)
- reviews (3)
- Richard Gere (1)
- Road to Oxiana (1)
- Robert Byron (1)
- Robert Fisk (1)
- Robert Irwin (1)
- Roman Empire (1)
- Rory Stewart (2)
- Royal Air Force (1)
- Royal Flying Corps (1)
- Royal Marines Commando (1)
- Russia (1)
- Saad Eskander (3)
- sabre-rattling (1)
- Sadr (1)
- Sam Leith (1)
- Samarra (1)
- Sangin (2)
- Saudi Arabia (4)
- Saudi British Society (1)
- Sean Langan (1)
- Second World War (1)
- Secret Intelligence Service (1)
- Setting the Desert on Fire (14)
- Seymour Hersh (1)
- Shahnama (1)
- Shia (4)
- Shilpa Shetty (1)
- shoe-thrower (1)
- Shuaiba Logistics Base (1)
- Sir Archibald Murray (1)
- Sir Aurel Stein (1)
- Sir William Birdwood (1)
- slavery (1)
- Somalia (1)
- speaking engagements (3)
- St Antony's College (1)
- Stephen Walt (1)
- stock market (1)
- Story of the Malakand Field Force (1)
- Sunday Times (1)
- Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival (1)
- Sunni (2)
- Sykes-Picot agreement (2)
- Syria (3)
- Taliban (5)
- talk (1)
- talks (2)
- Tayyip Erdogan (1)
- TE Lawrence (11)
- Telecommunications (1)
- The costs of containing Iran (1)
- The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy (1)
- The Times (3)
- theocracy (1)
- Tibet (1)
- tombstones (1)
- Tony Blair (1)
- torture (1)
- tourism (1)
- trade (1)
- troops (1)
- Turkey (2)
- two minutes' silence (1)
- Tyre (2)
- unemployment (1)
- United States (6)
- Uxbridge (1)
- Vali Nasr (1)
- Venice (1)
- Wadi Hadramawt (1)
- Wadi Rum (1)
- Wahabbism (1)
- Walter Russell Mead (1)
- what if (1)
- When God Made Hell (1)
- Winston Churchill (2)
- WW Norton (3)
- Yemen (7)
- Zarqa (1)
- Zeeshan Hashmi (1)
- Zionism (2)
No comments:
Post a Comment