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The Cauldron

The Making of the Modern Middle East
Brief Description
How did an elderly cleric overthrow the Shah of Iran and change the world?Why did Bin Laden attack the USA - and why did the USA destroy Saddam?How did Britain and France carve up the Middle East - and why did the Kurds never get their... Read More
Format: Hardback
$4999
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Releases 25th August 2026 (Approx. Date) Pre-order  "The Cauldron" now to secure your copy from our first shipment

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A history of the Middle East - from Morocco, Yemen and Iran to Sudan, Israel and Turkey - since 1900, from the no.1 bestselling author of JERUSALEM

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How did an elderly cleric overthrow the Shah of Iran and change the world?

Why did Bin Laden attack the USA - and why did the USA destroy Saddam?

How did Britain and France carve up the Middle East - and why did the Kurds never get their own state?

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE MAKING OF TODAY'S MIDDLE EAST: A SPELLBINDING HISTORY FROM THE BESTSELLING, PRIZEWINNING HISTORIAN AND MASTER STORYTELLER

The Middle East has forever been the source of religions, prize of empires, spark-wheel of conflicts, well of radicalism and epicentre of our tumultuous world. No other region has such a hold on our imagination nor such a propensity to unleash mayhem. Yet few know its real history; fewer still understand its variety and cosmopolitanism, its complexity and interconnectedness. In The Cauldron, Simon Sebag Montefiore delivers a fresh and unique history of the entire region in all its diversity, from 1900 up to the present day. Taking the reader on a spectacular journey from the Ottoman sultanate to the Trump presidency, from Morocco to Iran, this is a dazzling panorama of faith and fanaticism, creativity and tolerance, dictatorship and democracy brought to life by an extraordinary cast of kings, warriors, poets, terrorists and peacemakers.

This is the essential story of how the Middle East of 1900 became the Middle East of today - and tomorrow.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781399634892

Publisher: Orion Publishing Co

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 25 August 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Illustration: Around 8-10 b&w maps

Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Width: 156.0mm

Height: 240.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 528

About the Author

Simon Sebag Montefiore is an internationally bestselling author and historian whose prize-winning books, which include THE WORLD and JERUSALEM, have been published in fifty-two languages. He read history at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge where he received his PhD. He is the presenter of five history series for the BBC and many of his books are being developed for movies or drama series.

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