A Soldier with the Arabs

This record of the increasingly turbulent relations between East and West is the perfect read for fans of T.E. Lawrence, James Barr, Scott Anderson, and Ian Black.

In 1939, John Bagot Glubb assumed command of the Arab Legion, the army of the little state of Trans-Jordan. He had already been living and serving among the Arabs for 19 years and had an intense love for the country and its people. The appointment signalled the beginning of his involvement in the Machiavellian world of politics and international affairs. Under the rule of King Abullah and as a British Protectorate Trans-Jordan was enjoying a long period of relative stability, with Glubb’s beloved Legion able to develop under his devoted leadership.

With the assassination of King Abdullah and the increasingly hostile relations between the Arab nations and the West; the union with Arab Palestine and the impacts of the establishment the State of Israel, Trans-Jordans solid foundations inevitably began to crumble.

Recounting his own personal story, Glubb vividly and devotedly details the time he spent serving the Hashemite royal family and the Trans-Jordanians. With immense pride and warmth we hear how he worked tirelessly with the Arab Legion as it grew in strength and maturity until the terrible day it had to be deployed against its own people. As the country’s internal stability deteriorates, unable to withstand the influences and political machinations of other Arabic nations and new political ideologies Glubb finds himself a figure of hate, a scapegoat unfairly labelled a ‘pawn of the British government’. Dismissed without ceremony he writes without rancour but as much love for his adopted home, friends and comrades as ever he felt amongst them.

‘The self-portrait of an honest man, as true as steel, marvellously unembittered, and sustained throughout all these anxieties and disappointments by an unyielding spiritual faith.’ — James Morris, The Guardian

‘Through it all runs a loving awareness of a magnificent landscape, a lively people, a great background of history, and the imprint of Glubb’s own character, brave, loyal, simple and, above all, humane.’ —Robert Stephens, The Observer

‘A gallant soldier writes of the events which ended his career … It is graphically written, well-told narrative; and Glubb Pasha, like many other professional soldiers, has at once a sense of beauty and a sense of history.’ —Peter Quennell, Daily Mail

‘The fairest and most objective account of the Arab-Jewish problem yet written.’ — The Spectator