The Lion's Last Roar: Suez 1956

The Suez Crisis of 1956 marked a turning point in international history. Its aftermath witnessed the end of Great Britain as a world power and the erosion of that nations special relationship to the United States. It strengthened the influence of the Soviet Union in the Mediterranean and the Middle East helped to precipitate the energy crisis of today and hastened the inevitable confrontation between the First and Third Worlds. In The Lions Last Roar Chester L. Cooper not only dramatically relates the genesis of the Crisis the event itself and its effects but comes down heavily on the side of those who believe that men make history rather than historys making the man. For Cooper believes in the complex personalities of British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden and American Secretary of State John Foster Dulles lie the keys to the many otherwise inexplicable happenings that comprised the Crisis. Making use of archives in Washington London and Paris conducting dozens of interviews-including one of the few ever granted by Eden after he left office in 1957-and perhaps most importantly writing from his unique vantage point as the London liaison between the American and British intelligence communities during the Crisis itself Cooper has produced a work that is in every way a worthy successor to his prize-winning book The Last Crusade: America in Vietnam.