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Product Details
Simon & Schuster, January 2009
Hardcover, 512 pages
ISBN-10: 1416594299
ISBN-13: 9781416594291
Description
Making peace in the long-troubled Middle East is likely to be one of the top priorities of the next American president. He will need to take account of the important lessons from past attempts, which are described and analyzed here in a gripping book by a renowned expert who served twice as U.S. ambassador to Israel and as Middle East adviser to President Clinton.
Martin Indyk draws on his many years of intense involvement in the region to provide the inside story of the last time the United States employed sustained diplomacy to end the Arab-Israeli conflict and change the behavior of rogue regimes in Iraq and Iran.
Innocent Abroad is an insightful history and a poignant memoir. Indyk provides a fascinating examination of the ironic consequences when American naïveté meets Middle Eastern cynicism in the region's political bazaars. He dissects the very different strategies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to explain why they both faced such difficulties remaking the Middle East in their images of a more peaceful or democratic place. He provides new details of the breakdown of the Arab-Israeli peace talks at Camp David, of the CIA's failure to overthrow Saddam Hussein, and of Clinton's attempts to negotiate with Iran's president.
Indyk takes us inside the Oval Office, the Situation Room, the palaces of Arab potentates, and the offices of Israeli prime ministers. He draws intimate portraits of the American, Israeli, and Arab leaders he worked with, including Israel's Yitzhak Rabin, Ehud Barak, and Ariel Sharon; the PLO's Yasser Arafat; Egypt's Hosni Mubarak; and Syria's Hafez al-Asad. He describes in vivid detail high-level meetings, demonstrating how difficult it is for American presidents to understand the motives and intentions of Middle Eastern leaders and how easy it is for them to miss those rare moments when these leaders are willing to act in ways that can produce breakthroughs to peace.
Innocent Abroad is an extraordinarily candid and enthralling account, crucially important in grasping the obstacles that have confounded the efforts of recent presidents. As a new administration takes power, this experienced diplomat distills the lessons of past failures to chart a new way forward that will be required reading.
"A rare book of diplomatic history that is suspenseful and dramatic. Indyk puts you inside the White House and leads you through the highs and lows of the Arab-Israeli peace process. Studded with sharp insights about people and places, this is a book to savor and also learn from. Anyone interested in the Middle East or how foreign policy actually works should read this fascinating tale."
-- Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International and author of The Post-American World
"The ultimate inside account of the machinations of the modern Middle East. Indyk has lived this story now for several decades, and he provides the most vivid cameos and snapshots of the personalities of the region since Henry Kissinger's memoir of his 'shuttle diplomacy' years. Indyk is honest and self-critical about his own mistakes and those of his former bosses. That's the most hopeful aspect of this remarkable memoir -- that we can actually learn from our errors. I devoured this book. As with a good novel, the story grabs hold of you and doesn't let go."
-- David Ignatius, columnist for The Washington Post and author of Body of Lies
"Few diplomats have been as closely involved with the attempts to broker a peace treaty in the Middle East as Martin Indyk. His knowledge, experience, and candor make Innocent Abroad a fascinating book."
-- Dr. Henry Kissinger, former U.S. secretary of state
"Combines an intimate memoir with a fascinating account of the roller-coaster ride that is the quest for peace between Israel and its neighbors. Vivid, sharply drawn portraits of all the players -- both heartbreaking and hopeful, this book should be in every negotiator's briefcase."
-- Richard Holbrooke, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and chief negotiator of the Dayton Peace Accords
"Timely and valuable.... Following Indyk's advice would be a good place to start."
-- The New York Times Book Review
"Excellent.... Nuanced."
-- Newsweek
"Incisive."
-- Thomas Friedman, The New York Times (column of 1/7/09)
"Part memoir, part political analysis, elegantly written, and hard to put down."
-- The New York Review of Books
"For practitioners of Middle East diplomacy, this book is essential."
-- The Washington Times
"A vivid insider's account....Required reading for the next president."
-- Kirkus Reviews
"Gripping insider history."
-- Publishers Weekly
"A rich analysis.... Highly recommended."
-- Library Journal
NewsBlaze, November 3, 2009
.../PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit opens its 58th Annual Jewish Book Fair tonight with Martin Indyk, director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings Institute and former ambassador ...
Family Security Matters, October 25, 2009
...from a previously unheard of writer named Ushruf Subreen. The summary whitewashes Subreen's original, full review of Martin Indyk's most recent book, Innocent Abroad ...
PR Newswire via Yahoo!, July 10, 2009
...newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090710/SF44909) In addition to the usual serious reading selections of Tom Friedman's 'Hot, Flat and Crowded,' Martin Indyk's 'Innocent Abroad,' David Kilcullen's 'The Accidental Guerrilla,' Michael O'Hanlon's ...
The Australian, May 22, 2009
...He showed he's learned the importance of convincing Israelis that he gets along well with US presidents. Martin Indyk, the Australian who became Bill Clinton's senior adviser on the Middle East, writes in his new book, Innocent Abroad, that ...
US News, February 12, 2009
...Middle East: Discuss Innocent Abroad by Martin Indyk - US News and World Report Thursday, February 12, 2009 Social Web E-mail and the Middle East: Discuss Innocent Abroad by Martin Indyk Martin Indyk sits ...
NetIndia123.com, February 4, 2009
...at the end of the Clinton administration, according to a new book by former US ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk. Indyk, who also served as the US State Department's Assistant Secretary for Near East Affairs during that administration, said ...
US News, January 30, 2009
...Martin Indyk sits down with U . S . News to talk about his new book Innocent Abroad Martin Indyk, twice U.S. ambassador to Israel and director of the Saban Center for ...
The Australian, January 30, 2009
...and immediate engagement when a new US president takes office bears a striking resemblance to that recommended in Martin Indyk's book Innocent Abroad: An Intimate Account of American Peace Diplomacy in the Middle East. 'Amazing that, isn't ...
Israel National News, January 29, 2009
... by Baruch (sLinkData '') In a new book, former US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk has dropped a potential political bombshell, revealing that Avigdor Lieberman, head of the Yisrael Beitenu party, once held secret talks on territorial ...
AlterNet.org, January 14, 2009
...about U.S. policy in the region, most notably during her husband's presidency. And speaking of which, Martin Indyk, the Clinton administration's ambassador to Israel, has a new book out, Innocent Abroad: An Intimate Account of American Peace ...
Crisisweb, January 12, 2009
...Daniel C. Kurtzer and Scott B. Lasensky United States Institute of Peace Press, 191 pp., $16.50 (paper) Innocent Abroad: An Intimate Account of American Peace Diplomacy in the Middle East by Martin Indyk Simon and Schuster, 494 pp., $30.00 ...
Miftah, January 10, 2009
...Clinton and the two Bush presidencies, presenting a manual on what future officeholders should and should not do. Martin Indyk's Innocent Abroad gives a broader picture. An ambitious comparison of the last two failed American attempts to ...
FOX WTTG Washington, January 8, 2009
...next guest has had a front row seat to some of the most turbulent times in the Mideast. Martin Indyk's new book, 'Innocent Abroad', details the twists and turns of diplomacy in a powder keg. Indyk was U.S. ambassador to Israel during the ...
