Forty years ago (September 1969) Moammar Gadafi seized power in Libya in a military coup. To mark this event, John Wright has made this selection from his own shorter writings which examine and explain Libya's complex and troubled past - the historical interplay of events, influences and personalities that helped to shape the modern state.From this selection read about...o Why, in about 1860, Britain lost its earlier enthusiasm for Tripoli and the Sahara as a 'Gateway to Africa'o What made the Zionist movement drop plans to settle one million East European Jews in Cyrenaicao Why Mussolini accepted the 'Sword of Islam' in Tripoli in 1937o The first welfare issue to preoccupy the British Eighth Army as it captured Tripoli in January 1943o Why Libya had such an easy passage to independence in 1951o How, as a young leader, Moammar Gadafi was publicly ridiculed and put down by an Arab leader nearly old enough to be his grandfather who claimed Libyans were still living in the days of Adam and Eve.These are just some of the issues John Wright discusses in these 20 chapters, here usefully collected under one cover from the many books and journals in which they first appeared. John Wright, was formerly the chief political commentator and analyst of the BBC Arabic Service, specialising in Libya, the Sahara and the international oil industry.