James Barr Interviewed by Peter Frankopan

Historian James Barr talks about his book about how Britain and the United States rivalled each other for post-war influence in the Middle East, in conversation with fellow historian and bestselling writer Dr Peter Frankopan.

Barr uses new source material to challenge the assumption that the US and Britain have colluded in the Middle East. He reveals how CIA officer Kim Roosevelt sabotaged British efforts to maintain a post-war sphere of influence that threatened US-owned oil company Aramco and how British explorer Wilfred Thesiger worked as a scout for Aramco’s British rival the Iraq Petroleum Company. He shows how the US foiled a British attempt to split Iran in 1951, uncovers the clandestine efforts of British intelligence and explains how the US ultimately prevailed.

Barr has worked in politics at the Daily Telegraph, in the City and at the British Embassy in Paris. He is a visiting fellow at King’s College, London, and author of A Line in the Sand. Frankopan is author of several acclaimed works of history including The Silk Roads: A New History of the World and The New Silk Roads: The Present and Future of the World. He is professor of global history at the University of Oxford and director of the Centre for Byzantine Research.