The Struggle for Arab Independence

Patrick Seale worked for Reuters news agency for six years and for more than a dozen years on the staff of The Observer as Middle East correspondent, Paris correspondent, and roving correspondent in Africa and the Indian subcontinent. He currently runs a consultancy on Middle East affairs. He has written extensively on the Middle East and his other books include Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East (1998, 1992) and Abu Nidal: A Gun for Hire (1992).

'Patrick Seale tells the story of the making of the modern Middle East through the life of Riad el-Solh, a Lebanese politician who grew into the outstanding Arab statesman of his time. Based on British and French archives, and on numerous interviews, the book pieces together the history of the Arab struggle for independence through the lives of those most directly involved.' The Middle East

• 1. Grandee of the empire; 2. An Ottoman childhood; 3. Education in revolution; 4. In the shadow of the gallows; 5. Faysal's false dawn; 6. Fugitive from the French; 7. The great Syrian revolution; 8. A hero's return; 9. Man of the people; 10. Riad el-Solh, Zionism and the Hajj Amin al-Husayni; 11. Ben Gurion and the Arabs; 12. The making of a Lebanese patriot; 13. Competing identities: the battle for men's minds; 14. The politics of the street; 15. The changing fortunes of war; 16. Rashid 'Ali and 'Operation Exporter'; 17. Riad Bey and general spears; 18. The electoral challenge; 19. The compromise of the national pact; 20. The decisive battle; 21. Painful awakening; 22. Goodbye to the French; 23. Master of the local scene; 24. The unwanted war; 25. The challenge from the revolutionaries; 26. Murder in Amman.