Who is to blame for the failure of the Arab Spring and the rise of Islamic State? The answer lies far closer to home than you might dare imagine…

In this unparalleled investigation, Christopher Davidson exposes the true extent of Western interference in the Middle East over the past one hundred years. Drawing on the examination of hundreds of leaked and declassified documents, and interviews with former officials, academics, journalists and activists, he shows how the region’s most powerful actors have been manipulated by foreign players in a game that has given rise to dictators, sectarian wars, bloody counter-revolutions and the most brutal incarnation of extremism ever seen.

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‘The best and most informative book yet on the struggle for power among the US and Europe, Arab autocratic regimes, and these countries’ impoverished masses.’

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‘Plunges into America’s move to center stage and how it has sustained its ravenous postwar economy by preserving access to crude oil imports at any cost...Davidson is especially dogged at “following the money”—e.g., the rise of crony-capitalist networks in the Gulf monarchies and the financing of al-Qaeda and of the new Islamic State group…An exhaustively researched account.’

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‘For its unsparing probity, Davidson’s book ought to be required reading…Who are these people? Where did they come from? What do they want? Shadow Wars makes the answers painfully, damningly clear.’

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‘Mr Davidson is one of the most knowledgeable academics writing about the region.’