Kingmakers is the story of how the modern Middle Eastcame to be, told through the lives of the Britons and Americans whoshaped it. Some are famous (Lawrence of Arabia and Gertrude Bell);others infamous (Harry St. John Philby, father of Kim); someforgotten (Sir Mark Sykes, Israel?s godfather, and A. T.Wilson, the territorial creator of Iraq); some controversial (theCIA?s Miles Copeland and the Pentagon?s PaulWolfowitz). All helped enthrone rulers in a region whose very nameis an Anglo-American invention. As a bonus, we meet the BritishEmpire?s power couple, Lord and Lady Lugard (Flora Shaw): shenamed Nigeria, he ruled it; she used the power of the LondonTimes to attempt a regime change in the gold-rich Transvaal.The narrative is character-driven, and the aim is to restore tolife the colorful figures who for good or ill gave us the MiddleEast in which Americans are enmeshed today.