The Cauldron: The Making of the Modern Middle East - The No.1 Sunday Times Bestseller

Simon Sebag Montefiore

Aug 2026 · Weidenfeld & Nicolson · Narrated by Leighton Pugh

Audiobook

20 hr 12 min

Unabridged

Eligible

Want a free 2 hr 1 min sample? Listen anytime, even offline.

Add

Switch to the ebook

About this audiobook

'Vivid and monumental . . . Could not be a more essential primer' SUNDAY TIMES, Book of the Week
'Both zips along and bulges with detail . . . A blockbuster narrative' TELEGRAPH
'Gripping, dazzingly written . . . A masterpiece - no other word will do' MATTHEW D'ANCONA, former editor of the SPECTATOR

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE MAKING OF TODAY'S MIDDLE EAST: A SPELLBINDING HISTORY FROM THE BESTSELLING, PRIZEWINNING HISTORIAN AND MASTER STORYTELLER

How did an elderly cleric overthrow the Shah of Iran and change the world?
Why did Bin Laden attack the USA - and why did the USA destroy Saddam?
How did one extraordinary prince create Saudi Arabia? How did an Ottoman general create Türkiye?
How did Britain and France carve up the Middle East - and why did the Kurds never get their own state?
Can there ever be peace between Israel and Palestine?

The Middle East has forever been the source of religions, prize of empires, spark-wheel of conflicts, well of radicalism and epicentre of our tumultuous world. No other region has such a hold on our imagination nor such a propensity to unleash mayhem. Yet few know its real history; fewer still understand its variety and cosmopolitanism, its complexity and interconnectedness. In The Cauldron, Simon Sebag Montefiore delivers a fresh and unique history of the entire region in all its diversity, from 1900 up to the present day. Taking the reader on a spectacular journey from the Ottoman sultanate to the Trump presidency, from Morocco to Iran, this is a dazzling panorama of faith and fanaticism, creativity and tolerance, dictatorship and democracy brought to life by an extraordinary cast of kings, warriors, poets, terrorists and peacemakers.

This is the essential story of how the Middle East of 1900 became the Middle East of today - and tomorrow.

'An essential read' HUSSEIN AGHA, Palestinian negotiator with Israel over half a century
'A must-have guide' EUGENE ROGAN, author of The Arabs
'Captivating and monumental' EHUD OLMERT, former Prime Minister of Israel
'Masterful . . . history at its best' GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS, former Director of the CIA

'Vivid and monumental . . . Could not be a more essential primer' SUNDAY TIMES, Book of the Week 'Both zips along and bulges with detail . . . A blockbuster narrative' TELEGRAPH 'Gripping, dazzingly written . . . A masterpiece - no other word will do' MATTHEW D'ANCONA, former editor of the SPECTA...

Discover more

About the author

Simon Sebag Montefiore is an internationally bestselling author and historian whose prize-winning books, which include THE WORLD and JERUSALEM, have been published in fifty-two languages. He read history at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge where he received his PhD. He is the presenter of five history series for the BBC and many of his books are being developed for movies or drama series.

Rate this audiobook

Tell us what you think.

Listening information

Smartphones and tablets

Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.

Laptops and computers

You can read books purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.

Flag as inappropriate