The British Empire in the Middle East, 1945-1951

This is a far-reaching study of how Britain's postwar Labour government attempted to sustain a vision of Britain as a world power. Committed to the liquidation of the old British Empire, the government sought to develop new relationships in the Middle East as a replacement for India, hoping to halt the decline of the Empire by putting it on a new basis. Caught between the forces of anti-British nationalism and American anti-colonialism, the attempt was ultimately destined to fail; but it marks a crucial phase in the story of British imperialism and of Middle Eastern history.

"A magnificent and comprehensive new book....Mr. Louis unravels with compelling detail the way in which the British 'official mind' engaged in [an] imperial and strategic juggling act, as it sought to preserve national interest in an era of unprecedented global change."--The New York Times BookReview
"A.J.P. Taylor has called him 'the foremost historian of the British Empire and Commonwealth in his generation.' Alan Bullock has called him 'the leading historian of the final phase of the British Empire.' Both comments are deserved."--The New York Review of Books
"[An] extraordinary digest of opinion, debate and argument which went on within the British colonial office."--Congress Monthly
"[M]agnificantly crafted with apt quotations to entrance the reader as he proceeds page by page through the saga of British foreign policy in the postwar period. Contributes handsomely to our understanding of the founding of the Jewish state."--Studies in Contemporary Jewry III
"The book of the year."--A.J.P. Taylor, The Observer