The latest book from veteran Middle East correspondent Patrick Cockburn presents a detailed analysis of key events in the Middle East since Trump’s election.The major themes are the ever-deepening confrontation between the US and Iran, the defeat of Isis in Iraq and Syria and the incredibly complex relationship between the different Kurdish factions and the US.

Cockburn’s rare quality as a journalist is his insistence on engaging in actual journalism by doing the hard work of uncovering evidence and trying to make sense of contrasting narratives, as opposed to simply picking up on the Tweets and press releases of a few “reliable” (pro-Western) sources, as is the way of so many.

Read the full review here.