An authoritative portrait of America's ascent in the Middle East during and following WWII, which reveals the full story of the scramble for political influence, oil concessions and a new military presence based on airpower and generous US aid to shady regimes in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt and Iraq. Marshalling new and revelatory evidence from the archives, Lloyd Gardner weaves together three decades of US moves in the region to offer the first history of America's efforts to supplant the British Empire in the Middle East.