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The Suez Crisis (Routledge Sources in History)

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The book, The Suez Crisis, by Anthony Gorst and Lewis Johnman is a brief yet succinct book that describes and documents a turning point in British history. The Suez Canal crisis is thought to have been a radical catalyst by which Britain lost her status as a world power. The main focus of this book is the "post-war decline from great power status"(xi.) and the economics behind the crisis. The authors write, "Suez highlights the central fact of post-war British history that it no longer possessed an economy that was capable of sustaining a great power role..."(xi.) The views expressed in this book describe the reasons behind the economic decline in Britain, decline that is closely linked to decolonization in Africa, post-war economies, and the Suez crisis. The authors, however, do not present the Suez crisis as the turning point that changed the course of Britain's history. They discuss the domestic and external policies of Britain to address the decline of the great world power. This book is a compilation of primary sources and photographs of the era and includes opinions of the authors. Gorst and Johnman provide background information to the crisis-including the reasoning behind Britain's interest in the Middle East, information of the crisis itself, and the resulting aftermath.