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439. The Cauldron: How the Modern Middle East Was Really Made
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In this episode of Battleground: The Big Picture , host Saul David sits down with prize-winning, internationally bestselling historian Simon Sebag Montefiore to discuss his book, The Cauldron: The Making of the Modern Middle East . Montefiore shares the intense, challenging process behind crafting a fact-based, source-grounded history of the region from 1900 to the present day—a project designed to cut through modern social media disinformation, anti-factual discourse, and toxic polarisation. He highlights the importance of moving beyond a narrow, traditional lens to recognise neglected humanitarian crises in North Africa, Syria, and Sudan, emphasising that every human life carries equal…