Ronald Storrs

Reviews / Votes

"A long overdue biography of one of the most important Oriental Officers to have served in the Near East at a time of enormous change, Faught has produced a fascinating account of Ronald Storrs, a witness to and shaper of the modern Middle East. This biography restores agency and granularity to events that are far too often painted in broad brush strokes reducing key developments to structural imperatives without dissecting the motives, ambitions, successes, and failures of those involved. It is only by looking at the particular and individual as Faught has so elegantly done, that we can begin to understand the wider historical hinterland of the contemporary Middle East" * Ali Ansari, Professor, University of St Andrews, UK * "In Seven Pillars of Wisdom, T E Lawrence described Ronald Storrs as "the most brilliant Englishman in the Middle East". In Egypt between 1904 to 1917 he worked under Cromer, Kitchener, McMahon and Wingate. With Lawrence, he helped launch the 1916 Arab Revolt and, as the first British military governor of Jerusalem, was present at a pivotal moment in the city's history. After his lucid account of the 1921 Cairo Conference, Professor Faught has done another service to anyone interested in the origins of the modern Middle East - and its contemporary discontents. Storrs is today a sadly neglected figure. But he was a remarkable public servant and a witness to the last days of empire. Understanding what drove him and his contemporaries is essential if we want to understand what happened next. This book helps us to do so with admirable clarity, intellectual rigour and a degree of balance that is often lacking in other accounts of the period. Everyone with an interest in the region will benefit from reading it." * John Jenkins, Sir, Former British Diplomat, UK *