EMPIRE OF SAND How Britain Made the Middle East

At 15 hours, this fine audiobook history of the West's role in shaping Middle Eastern politics--and more importantly, its geography--takes a fresh look at some familiar names, including T.E. Lawrence, Winston Churchill, and Woodrow Wilson. Derek Perkins is, as always, a flawless narrator, and few could equal the range of skills required here. Many threads come together in this illuminating and impressively researched narrative, one that even the most informed listeners may learn much from. For those with only a general knowledge of the Middle East, here is a frank appraisal that bares the machinations, connivances, and conflicting interests that drew the map of today's Arab and Jewish nations, and lit the politics that still burn there decades later. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2022]