Book Review: The Middle East, Oil, and the Great Powers, Egypt at Mid-Century
| Author | M. R. Powicke |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205601100414 |
| Date | 01 December 1956 |
| Published date | 01 December 1956 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK
REvIEws
305
These
two
studies,
then,
offer
the
most
comprehensive
accounts
available
at
the
synthetic
level.
The
French
book
is
the
more
detailed
and
basically
informative;
the
American
the
more
analytical
and
leisurely. Each
obviously
is
the
product
of
a
different
intent.
They
complement
one
another
usefully,
even
to
their
bibliographical
indications,
M.
Aron's
and
Mlle.
Elgey's
being
the
fuller,
Mr.
Farmer's the
more
critical.
But
having
said
this,
it
is
perhaps
not
gratuitous
to
add
that
both
books
would
have
gained
immeasurably
by
not
scorning
the
apparatus
of
scholarship.
If
the Fayard
volume
demands
its
references
the
more
urgently,
their
absence
is
the
more
understandable.
The
Columbia
book
because
of
its
generalized
essay
form
does
without
more
easily,
but
one
wonders
why
an
American
univers-
ity
press
(or
was
it
the
author
himself?)
should
have
imposed
this
restriction.
University
of
Toronto
JOHN
C.
CAIRNS
THE
MIDDLE
FAST,
OIL,
AND
THE
GREAT
POWERS.
By
Benjamin
Shadwran.
1955.
(New
York:
Praeger.
xix,
500pp.
$7.00)
EGYPT
AT
MID-CENTURY.
By Charles
Issawi.
1954.
(London:
Oxford.
viii,
289pp.
$3.25)
Here
at
last
is
a
thorough
primer
of
the
history
of
oil
conces-
sions
in
the
Middle
East.
By
basing
his
account
on
a
vast
and
varied
repertoire
of
official
documents, both
political
and
com-
mercial,
Mr.
Shadwran
has
put
himself
well
ahead
of
the
field
in
this
respect.
His
exposition
is
a
model
of
lucidity.
Within
each
of
the
six
major
regions
of
the
Middle
East
oil-producing
or
oil-
transmitting
nations,
he
narrates
the
history
of exploration,
concessions,
conflicts,
profits,
royalties,
and
finally,
the
impact
of
oil
production
on social
conditions. Among
these
subjects,
he
writes
best
on
the
relations
between
various
political
and
com-
mercial
groups.
And
it
is
here,
too,
that
he
raises
the
most
important
questions.
Perhaps
the
question
which
those
of
us
generally
interested
in
the
Middle
East
will
find
most
intriguing
is
that
of
Anglo-
American
relations.
Their
nature
stands
out
very
clearly
from
the
narrative
of
this
book,
though
there
is
a
sad
lack
of
any
systematic
discussion
or
conclusion.
Their
relations,
to
put
it
crudely
(more
crudely
than
Mr.
Shadwran
would)
have
been
one
of
a
silent,
largely
hidden,
struggle
for
security
and power.
The
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