From early times the British people have been drawn to the Holy Land through two major influences: the translation of the Bible into English and, later, the imperial need to control the road to India and access to the oil of the Middle East . . . With the lucidity and vividness that characterize all her work . . . Barbara Tuchman, explores the complex relationship of Britain to Palestine that led to the founding of the modern Jewish state -- and to many of the problems that plague the Middle East today.