It is often said that the Middle East’s greatest export isn’t oil, it’s instability. For centuries, great powers have been drawn to the region, often filled with ambitions of grandeur and empire, only to grow disillusioned and broken, shattered by what they can not change. And yet, try as it may, the West can’t seem to escape its labyrinth pull.

The story of the modern Middle East is one of tragedy and hubris, of a vast and diverse part of the world that has been shaped by war, misrule, and retrograde ideologies. It is a story of such complexity that merely capturing its scope and scale would seem beyond the capabilities of even the most talented of historians.