Steven A. Cook is the Eni Enrico Mattei Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a columnist at Foreign Policy and the author of False Dawn, The Struggle for Egypt, and Ruling but Not Governing.

For decades, American interests in the Middle East were defined by preventing the disruption of oil exports, protecting Israel, and containing the Soviet Union. Steven Cook takes the reader beyond the relative successes of that era into more recent cycles of frustration and policy shortcomings...Cook reminds the reader that these states have agency, too. And thousands of years of culture and social organization. In Cook's view, America's national interests are better served by a deeper understanding of the region, and by an engaged policy informed by an emphasis on diplomacy, private sector contributions, military partnerships, and realism. Cook's frank assessment is compelling reading for the classroom, the newsroom, the boardroom, or the Situation Room.

• Acknowledgements Chapter One: Original Sins Chapter Two: Prime Directive Chapter Three: Unbreakable Bonds Chapter Four: The Great Transformation Chapter Five: The Aborted Revolution Chapter Six: Retrenching & Hedging Chapter Seven: Back to the Future Notes Bibliography Index

Steven A. Cook is the Eni Enrico Mattei Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a columnist at Foreign Policy and the author of False Dawn, The Struggle for Egypt, and Ruling but Not Governing.

For decades, American interests in the Middle East were defined by preventing the disruption of oil exports, protecting Israel, and containing the Soviet Union. Steven Cook takes the reader beyond the relative successes of that era into more recent cycles of frustration and policy shortcomings...Cook reminds the reader that these states have agency, too. And thousands of years of culture and social organization. In Cook's view, America's national interests are better served by a deeper understanding of the region, and by an engaged policy informed by an emphasis on diplomacy, private sector contributions, military partnerships, and realism. Cook's frank assessment is compelling reading for the classroom, the newsroom, the boardroom, or the Situation Room.

• Acknowledgements Chapter One: Original Sins Chapter Two: Prime Directive Chapter Three: Unbreakable Bonds Chapter Four: The Great Transformation Chapter Five: The Aborted Revolution Chapter Six: Retrenching & Hedging Chapter Seven: Back to the Future Notes Bibliography Index

Steven A. Cook is the Eni Enrico Mattei Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a columnist at Foreign Policy and the author of False Dawn, The Struggle for Egypt, and Ruling but Not Governing.

For decades, American interests in the Middle East were defined by preventing the disruption of oil exports, protecting Israel, and containing the Soviet Union. Steven Cook takes the reader beyond the relative successes of that era into more recent cycles of frustration and policy shortcomings...Cook reminds the reader that these states have agency, too. And thousands of years of culture and social organization. In Cook's view, America's national interests are better served by a deeper understanding of the region, and by an engaged policy informed by an emphasis on diplomacy, private sector contributions, military partnerships, and realism. Cook's frank assessment is compelling reading for the classroom, the newsroom, the boardroom, or the Situation Room.

• Acknowledgements Chapter One: Original Sins Chapter Two: Prime Directive Chapter Three: Unbreakable Bonds Chapter Four: The Great Transformation Chapter Five: The Aborted Revolution Chapter Six: Retrenching & Hedging Chapter Seven: Back to the Future Notes Bibliography Index