Podcasts · Unholy: Two Jews on the News
The Middle East Cauldron - with Simon Sebag Montefiore
· 37 min · Episode 317
Episode The Middle East Cauldron - with Simon Sebag Montefiore
Acclaimed historian Simon Sebag Montefiore returns to Unholy to discuss his sweeping new book, The Cauldron: A History of the Middle East between 1900 and 2026. He tells Yonit and Jonathan that understanding the region today requires starting at the dawn of the 20th century — thanks to the long shadow still cast by the Ottoman Empire and its collapse. They talk of the often underestimated significance of Saudi Arabia, the convulsions that followed the Iranian revolution of 1979 and the extent to which Israel is - unexpectedly - a Middle Eastern state like any other.
⏱ CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
00:52 Why the book starts in 1900
02:49 Ibn Saud and the House of Saud
07:31 1979 and the Iranian revolution
09:55 The empire states, none of them Arab
13:13 Israel as a post-Ottoman state
18:22 Ben Gurion, Ataturk, Reza Shah
21:46 Middleness, pipelines and Haifa
26:35 The 1840 Damascus blood libel
30:02 Purity tests and historians' nerve
33:58 The King and Britain's minorities
🌐 Our website: https://unholy-podcast.com
💛 Become a friend of the pod:
Patreon: https://bit.ly/UnholyPatreon
📺 FOLLOW UNHOLY
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGlvtS7As7WHh7YtmU5SMUQ
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unholypodcast/
X: https://x.com/unholypod
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/unholypod.bsky.social
🎧 LISTEN TO UNHOLY
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/il/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2m2UnLfiAyOehtF1bsv98W
🎙️ THE HOSTS
Yonit Levi
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yonitleviofficial/
X: https://x.com/LeviYonit
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonit-levi/
Jonathan Freedland
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanfreedland/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jonathanfreedland.bsky.social
📩 Contact: unholy@unholy-media.com
🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/unholypod
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Links in the notes 1
Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them. Explicit shows are for adult profiles only, and children’s profiles hear only children’s shows. More about this list.