During the latter half of the twentieth century, the late J.B. Kelly was the foremost authority on the Persian Gulf. He wrote the standard work on the subject, Britain and the Persian Gulf, 1795-1880 (Clarendon Press, Oxford). Now, for the first time, his articles, essays (one previously unpublished) and book reviews for the period 1956-1970 have been collected in this volume, Fighting the Retreat, for the convenience of all readers who are interested in the history of Arabia and the Gulf, and the antecedents of today's troubles in that strategically critical part of the world. The topics cover: the history of Britain's position in the Gulf, the Buraimi Oasis Dispute, the Persian claim to Bahrain, the frontiers of Eastern Arabia, Sultanate and Imamate in Oman, the Red Sea and Palestine, the Kurds of Iraq, Kuwait, Aden, Egypt and Arabia, Arab Nationalism, the USA and the Arab World, Saudi Arabia, T.E. Lawrence, the Yemen, Islam and the European Empires, and Britain and Russia in Persia. There is an introduction and a postscript about the author, as well as an index and endorsements from other noted writers on the subject.