"This book is the follow-up to Karl E. Meyer and Shareen Blair Brysac’s 'Tournament of Shadows,' a swashbuckling account of the Great Game in Central Asia. 'Kingmakers' examines the similar phenomenon of Western meddling and imperialism in the Arabian lands of the Middle East and North Africa, through a series of biographical essays. The subjects range in time and nationality from the British consul-general Lord Cromer, who secured control of Egypt during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, to the recent American deputy secretary of defense Paul Wolfowitz and his adventures in Iraq."