Obama and the Middle East The End of America's Moment?

From one of the top Middle East experts in the world comes a candid assessment of current American foreign policy in the Middle East and a proposed plan for the regionPublished to widespread media acclaim, Fawaz Gerges's work takes on the past, present, and future of the United States' relationship with the Middle East. Gerges, one of the world's top Middle East scholars, examines the US - Middle East relationship Obama has inherited, analyzes the administration's responses to the challenges it has faced, and highlights what must change in order to improve US outcomes in the region. Evaluating the president's engagement with the Arab Spring, his decision to order the death of Osama bin Laden, his intervention in Libya, and his relations with Iran, Gerges reaches a sobering conclusion: the United States is near the end of its moment in the Middle East. The cynically realist policy it has employed since World War II - and that the Obama administration has continued - is at the root of current bitterness and mistrust, and it is time to remake American foreign policy.

Fawaz A. Gerges is a professor of Middle Eastern Politics and International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he is chair of the Middle East Centre. He was a senior ABC television news analyst from 2000 until 2007 and has been a guest on Charlie Rose, Oprah, ABC Nightline, and other prominent shows. He has contributed pieces to The New York Times, The Washington Post, International Herald Tribune, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Middle East Journal, Al Mustaqbal al-Arabi, and many others. He lives in London.

Introduction: Overcoming the Bitter Inheritance * America’s Encounter with the Middle East * In a Single Morning: The Bush Doctrine * The Obama Doctrine * Pivotal Peace * Obama and the War on Terror * Allies and Foes: The Pivotal States—Egypt, Turkey, and Iran