Master of the Game: Henry Kissinger and the Art of Middle East Diplomacy Audiobook

A perceptive and provocative history of Henry Kissinger's diplomatic negotiations in the Middle East that illuminates the unique challenges and barriers Kissinger and his successors have faced in their attempts to broker peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors.   “A wealth of lessons for today, not only about the challenges in that region but also about the art of diplomacy . . . the drama, dazzling maneuvers, and grand strategic vision.”—Walter Isaacson, author of The Code Breaker         More than twenty years have elapsed since the United States last brokered a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians. In that time, three presidents have tried and failed. Martin Indyk—a former United States ambassador to Israel and special envoy for the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in 2013—has experienced these political frustrations and disappointments firsthand.   Now, in an attempt to understand the arc of American diplomatic influence in the Middle East, he returns to the origins of American-led peace efforts and to the man who created the Middle East peace process—Henry Kissinger. Based on newly available documents from American and Israeli archives, extensive interviews with Kissinger, and Indyk's own interactions with some of the main players, the author takes readers inside the negotiations. Here is a roster of larger-than-life characters—Anwar Sadat, Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin, Hafez al-Assad, and Kissinger himself.   Indyk's account is both that of a historian poring over the records of these events, as well as an inside player seeking to glean lessons for Middle East peacemaking. He makes clear that understanding Kissinger's design for Middle East peacemaking is key to comprehending how to—and how not to—make peace.

Download and start listening now!

"Really excellent. A riveting, detailed account of Kissinger's middle East diplomacy. The author is arguably too deferential to Kissinger in the final analysis, although he is honest about the fact that the statesman was sometimes pursuing his own political convictions - at least when he felt US interests gave him the room to do so.The author, who has been publicly critical of Binyamin Netenyahu, makes clear under what auspices the Palestinians were neglected during the crucial politics of the 1970s, even though he doesn't dwell in this book on the human and political consequences.The book could have done with fuller sections setting out the development of events prior to, and after, the main body of the book. For example, it matters how Egypt got into the Soviet camp, and how US interests were effected by the failure to resolve the Palestinian issue.I'd argue he's also too harsh on Carter. See Nathan Thrall's The Only Language They Understand for balance."

— TGOTJ (5 out of 5 stars)