Lion of Jordan

The Life of King Hussein in War and Peace

Bibliographic Data

ID9802554
AuthorsWm Roger Louis (corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume124
Issue507
Pages505-507
Publication date2009-04-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe English Historical Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-8266 • E-ISSN: 1477-4534
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/ehr/cep070
OpenAlexW2034274251
LanguageEN
Citations received10

Avi Shlaim's thought and writing is always characterised by a fascination with conspiracy. Lion of Jordan may be read as a straightforward and lucid account of Hussein's life and times, but it is also a complex work that can be understood at different levels, not least of which is collusion between the king and the Israelis. Always reluctant to resist a play on words, Shlaim originally had in mind a more compelling title for the book, ‘The King and the Jews’, which is in fact the dominant theme. Hussein ruled the kingdom of Jordan for nearly half a century, from 1953 until his death in 1999. He walked a tightrope, as if balancing radical Arabs and Palestinians, on the one hand, and quite different sorts of Israelis on the other. His first and always foremost purpose was to ensure the survival of the Hashemite dynasty. Self-interest compelled secret accommodation with Israel, a theme that carries over from Shlaim's previous books. His aim has been to puncture the idealistic, heroic, and moralistic myth of the creation of the Israeli state by demonstrating that Israel was a state like any other state (moreover, that Israeli brutality matched Israeli mendacity). Neither the Israelis nor King Hussein could acknowledge secret negotiations, yet the purpose on both sides was pragmatic and realistic in the basic sense of avoiding mutual destruction. Hussein carried forward the tradition of his grandfather, King Abdullah, whose assassination in 1951 was the formative event of Hussein's life. In the course of the book, an ever more sophisticated concept of collusion—for that matter, the stronger notion of conspiracy—comes ironically to mean tacit but subtle understanding. Shlaim initially created consternation among those in Israel who refused to believe that someone such as Golda Meir (in his view the most truculent and self-righteous of the Israelis) had negotiated with the enemy. Shlaim's critics will not be convinced, but most historians will probably find the interpretation persuasive. In any event, he has established beyond any doubt the actual fact of secret conversations. He conducted 76 interviews with those who served under Hussein and interrogated a significant number of Israeli witnesses. The overall context can be summed up in his view that Israeli intransigence as well as Arab obstinacy caused deadlock. Hussein was the supreme exception. He once lamented: ‘This is what one gets for trying to be moderate, or perhaps for being stupid!’

Ancient history · Art · Collusion · Literature · Mythology · Negotiation · Political science · Sociology · State (computer science · Theme (computing · Classics · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Philosophy

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