John Wright's absorbing history of Libya begins with early hunter-gatherers and the activities of the mid-desert Garamantian civilization. He then recounts successive invaders: the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Muslim Arabs, Genoans, Normans, Spaniards, Knights of Malta, Ottoman Turks, and Karamanlis. Wright's modern history addresses the harshness of Italy's long conquest yet gives credit to the material achievements of Air Marshal Italo Balbo. Three chapters recast Libya's largely passive role in the Second World War; 1951's fairly smooth transition to an internationally brokered independence; the Sanussi monarchy, which reigned for eighteen years; the discovery and exploitation of oil in the 1950s and 1960s; and, the post-1969 Gadafi phenomenon.

'This book is in many important ways the culmination of the author's long involvement with Libya, tracing in an admirable fashion its history from pre-historic times through the revolutionary Qadhafi regime that consolidated its rule after 1969. Meticulously researched, with a breadth and with insights that only a longterm observer can muster, the different chapters provide wonderfully concise, analytic summaries of each distinctive historical period. What has always made Wright's writing attractive, and particularly in this volume, is his direct and engaging prose, providing clear and accessible writing rather than much of the jargon that has bedeviled other treatments of Libya. The result is a wonderfully succinct but highly insightful recall of the country's past and present that does not in any way sacrifice clarity for detail. This book is not only a good readA" for a nonspecialist audience, but will be much appreciated by Libya observers as well since there is no current up-to-date comprehensive history of the country available. The crowning achievement of a highly respected Libya observer.' - Professor Dirk Vandewalle, Dartmouth College, author of A History of Modern Libya

Contents: Author's Preface Note on Transliteration The Parts of Libya l. The Hunter Artists 2. The Phoenicians 3. The Greeks 4. The Numidians 5. The Romans 6. Christians and Barbarians 7. Vandals and Byzantines 8. The Arabs 9. European Intervention 10. Turks and Karamanlis 11. Turks, Explorers and Sanussis 12. A 'Historic Destiny' 13. The Years of Accord 14. La Riconquista 15. Fourth Shore 16. A Child of the United Nations 17. The Sanussi Kingdom 18. The State of the Masses

áFor many years JOHN WRIGHT was chief political commentator and analyst of the BBC Arabic Service, specialising in Libya, the Sahara and the international oil industry. Besides many articles, papers and talks, he has completed a Ph.D thesis and written or edited six books on Libya, Saharan travel and exploration and the Saharan slave trade.