Simon Sebag Montefiore: How the Modern Middle East Was Made

In this Conflicted Conversation, Simon Sebag Montefiore returns to the show, this time to talk about his new book The Cauldron: The Making of the Modern Middle East.

Simon explains:

How Britain and France tried — and often failed — to shape the post-Ottoman Middle East

Why Sykes–Picot is a misleading shorthand for the region’s modern borders

How Atatürk, Nasser and other Middle Eastern leaders remade the region through their own choices

The violent shift from Ottoman pluralism to nationalist, more homogeneous states

Why Nasser’s charisma produced a powerful Arab myth but a disastrous authoritarian model

Why traditional monarchies in Morocco, Jordan and the Gulf often outlasted revolutionary republics

How America became the Middle East’s dominant anti-imperial imperial power after Europe’s retreat

Why militias, parastates and insurgencies make “total victory” in today’s Middle East so elusive

Find Simon on X: x.com/simonmontefiore

Visit Simon’s website: www.simonsebagmontefiore.com