Penguin Random House Master of the Game: Henry Kissinger and the Art of Middle East Diplomacy

“A gripping history of how the United States used peacemaking to supplant the Soviet Union as the dominant foreign power in the region.” —Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times “Martin Indyk has written a fascinating, comprehensive and detailed study. . . . What really sets this book apart from other academic studies is that Indyk is a very unusual historian. In carrying out the traditional archival research in the United States and Israel, mastering the memoir and secondary literature, and conducting interviews with surviving participants, Indyk provides a precise rendering and a literal day-to-day account of Kissinger’s diplomacy in the region. However, having served as a former ambassador to Israel, an assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs and a special assistant to Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, Indyk is also a remarkably experienced diplomat with a deep engagement in the Middle East.” —Thomas Schwartz, The Washington Post “When Indyk analyzes the obstacles that Kissinger overcame, he knows of what he speaks. Decades after Kissinger left the State Department, the author dealt with similar issues as U.S. ambassador to Israel and special presidential envoy. His book draws on his experiences as well as extensive research in American and Israeli archives. Most of all, Indyk captures the unique intensity of diplomacy in this region, where every gesture is treated with suspicion, and every concession is a matter of life or death. . . . Indyk’s book is a brilliant account of how the mastery of personal diplomacy can depart from the diplomat’s true mission of peace.” —Jeremi Suri, The New York Times Book Review “Martin Indyk’s lucidly conceived and compellingly written Master of the Game: Henry Kissinger and the Art of Middle East Diplomacy is much more than a tale of long-ago diplomatic tussles in a faraway place. The issues surrounding Mr. Kissinger’s approach to foreign policy remain current, and Mr. Indyk brings to the task of examining them his years of diplomatic experience in the Clinton and Obama administrations. His book deserves careful attention.” —Walter Russell Mead, The Wall Street Journal “Revelatory . . . [A] magisterial 570-page account of one of the most gripping diplomatic annals in modern history.” —Edward Luce, Financial Times “[Kissinger’s] efforts are detailed exhaustively in Martin Indyk’s estimable and deeply researched new book.” —Mitchell Cohen, Politico “An exhaustive study . . . A project worthy of Indyk’s painstaking, always lucid analysis . . . [ Master of the Game is] of considerable interest to students of geopolitics, realpolitik, and the state of the world today.”— Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Drawing on his firsthand acquaintance with Middle East diplomacy and many of the principals . . . Indyk paints a vivid portrait of Kissinger as visionary statesman, Machiavellian operator, and occasional bumbler as he cajoles, arm-twists, and haggles over demarcation lines and diplomatic... ...