Blood and Sand
by Alex von Tunzelmann, Simon and Schuster, £25
The Suez Crisis, writes Alex von Tunzelmann, “could have been neatly resolved through diplomacy … saving everyone a lot of trouble”. Unfortunately, Britain, France and Israel did not want a neat solution. They hoped to rid themselves of Gamal Abdel Nasser so they embarked upon their “bellicose folly”. The sorry tale of the plots and secret protocols has been told many times before, but von Tunzelmann offers one of the liveliest accounts you’re likely to encounter.
