Master of the Game
Henry Kissinger and the Art of Middle East Diplomacy
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Narrated by:
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Simon Vance
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By:
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Martin Indyk
About this listen
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 20 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 listeners 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.
©2021 Martin Indyk (P)2021 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“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)
“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)
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- By: Gideon Rose
- Narrated by: Gideon Rose
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1991, the United States Army trounced the Iraqi army in battle only to stumble blindly into postwar turmoil. Then in 2003 the United States did it again. How could this happen? How could the strongest power in modern history fight two wars against the same opponent in just over a decade, win lightning victories both times, and yet still be woefully unprepared for the aftermath? Because Americans always forget the political aspects of war.
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Excellent book
- By Luis on 11-04-10
By: Gideon Rose
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Duty
- Memoirs of a Secretary at War
- By: Robert M. Gates
- Narrated by: George Newbern, Robert M. Gates
- Length: 25 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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From the former secretary of defense, a strikingly candid, vivid account of serving Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. When Robert M. Gates received a call from the White House, he thought he'd long left Washington politics behind: After working for six presidents in both the CIA and the National Security Council, he was happily serving as president of Texas A&M University. But when he was asked to help a nation mired in two wars and to aid the troops doing the fighting, he answered what he felt was the call of duty.
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The Fighting Season
- By Cynthia on 01-28-14
By: Robert M. Gates
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Japan 1941
- Countdown to Infamy
- By: Eri Hotta
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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When Japan attacked the United States in 1941, argues Eri Hotta, its leaders, in large part, understood they were entering a conflict they were bound to lose. Availing herself of rarely consulted material, Hotta poses essential questions overlooked by historians in the seventy years since: Why did these men - military men, civilian politicians, diplomats, the emperor - put their country and its citizens in harm's way? Why did they make a decision that was doomed from the start?
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Japanese viewpoint
- By Jean on 01-01-14
By: Eri Hotta
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Camelot's Court
- Inside the Kennedy White House
- By: Robert Dallek
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 16 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Fifty years after John F. Kennedy's assassination, presidential historian Robert Dallek, whom The New York Times calls "Kennedy's leading biographer", delivers a riveting new portrait of this president and his inner circle of advisors, their rivalries, personality clashes, and political battles. In Camelot's Court, Dallek analyzes the brain trust whose contributions to the successes and failures of Kennedy's administration - including the Bay of Pigs, civil rights, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Vietnam - were indelible.
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Well Researched but Critically Flawed
- By brent lloyd on 02-08-22
By: Robert Dallek
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Nuclear Folly
- A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis
- By: Serhii Plokhy
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Nearly 30 years after the end of the Cold War, today's world leaders are abandoning disarmament treaties, building up their nuclear arsenals, and exchanging threats of nuclear strikes. To survive this new atomic age, we must relearn the lessons of the most dangerous moment of the Cold War: the Cuban missile crisis. Serhii Plokhy offers an international perspective on the crisis, tracing the tortuous decision-making that produced and then resolved it, which involved John Kennedy and his advisers, Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro, and their commanders on the ground.
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A Must Read
- By Robert from Brookline on 08-22-21
By: Serhii Plokhy
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The China Mission
- By: Daniel Kurtz-Phelan
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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As World War II came to an end, General George Marshall was renowned as the architect of Allied victory. Set to retire, he instead accepted what he thought was a final mission - this time not to win a war, but to stop one. Across the Pacific, conflict between Chinese Nationalists and Communists threatened to suck in the United States and escalate into revolution. His assignment was to broker a peace, build a Chinese democracy, and prevent a Communist takeover, all while staving off World War III.
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A Previously Untold Story of a Failed Mission
- By Jonathan Love on 05-29-18
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Berlin 1961
- Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth
- By: Frederick Kempe
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 20 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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A former Wall Street Journal editor and the current president and CEO of the Atlantic Council, Frederick Kempe draws on recently released documents and personal interviews to re-create the powder keg that was 1961 Berlin. In Cold War Berlin, the United States and the Soviet Union stand nose to nose, with the possibility of nuclear war just one misstep away.
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I am scared in retrospect
- By theenglishmajor on 06-26-11
By: Frederick Kempe
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Hanoi’s War
- An International History of the War for Peace in Vietnam
- By: Lien-Hang T. Nguyen
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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While most historians of the Vietnam War focus on the origins of US involvement and the Americanization of the conflict, Lien-Hang T. Nguyen examines the international context in which North Vietnamese leaders pursued the war and American intervention ended. This riveting narrative takes the listener from the marshy Mekong Delta swamps to the bomb-saturated Red River Delta, from the corridors of power in Hanoi and Saigon to the Nixon White House, and from the peace negotiations in Paris to high-level meetings in Beijing and Moscow.
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Understanding politics in SE Asia.
- By Mark U. on 04-26-15
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Yalta
- The Price of Peace
- By: S. M. Plokhy
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 22 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Award-winning Harvard historian S.M. Plokhy delivers a “convincing revisionist analysis” ( Publishers Weekly) of the February 1945 Yalta conference. Bolstered by Soviet wiretaps, Plokhy’s engrossing narrative of Stalin, Churchill, and FDR’s negotiations reveals the West did better than previously thought.
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The depth and breadth of understanding
- By Robin LaCorte on 06-27-19
By: S. M. Plokhy
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Embers of War
- The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam
- By: Fredrik Logevall
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 32 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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In this landmark work that will forever change your understanding of how and why America went to war in Vietnam, author Fredrik Logevall taps newly accessible diplomatic archives in several nations and traces the path that led two Western nations to tragically lose their way in the jungles of Southeast Asia. He brings to life the bloodiest battles of France’s final years in Indochina - and describes how, from an early point, a succession of American leaders made disastrous policy choices that put America on its own collision course with history.
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Understanding Why We failed the People of Vietnam
- By VA on 03-22-21
By: Fredrik Logevall
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The End of the Cold War 1985-1991
- By: Robert Service
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 21 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Drawing on new archival research, Robert Service's gripping new investigation of the final years of the Cold War - the first to give equal attention to the internal deliberations from both sides of the Iron Curtain - opens a window onto the dramatic years that would irrevocably alter the world's geopolitical landscape and the men at their fore.
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Behind the scenes look at a pivotal period of time
- By Mike From Mesa on 09-20-16
By: Robert Service
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Dereliction of Duty
- Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam
- By: H. R. McMaster
- Narrated by: H. R. McMaster
- Length: 15 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Dereliction of Duty is a stunning analysis of how and why the United States became involved in an all-out and disastrous war in Southeast Asia. Fully and convincingly researched, based on transcripts and personal accounts of crucial meetings, confrontations, and decisions, it is the only book that fully re-creates what happened and why. McMaster pinpoints the policies and decisions that got the United States into the morass and reveals who made these decisions and the motives behind them, disproving the published theories of other historians and excuses of the participants.
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Rough narration
- By AC Griffin on 12-04-19
By: H. R. McMaster
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What listeners say about Master of the Game
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Citizen 90028
- 01-25-22
A very good book on history, diplomacy and negotiation
One of the two best books on American diplomacy in recent years. George Packer’s “Our Man” bio of Richard Holbrooke was also a great read but Kissinger was a much, much more consequential and successful diplomat. Indyk provides interesting perspectives from his personal experience in Mideast diplomacy. Master of the Game is well written and insightful.
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Overall
- R. B. Boulton
- 01-04-22
Fascinating insights into Middle East diplomacy
It was extremely fascinating to hear the inside scoop, the machinations involved in high stakes diplomacy, written by an insider with meticulous knowledge and detail. As an added bonus, the reader has probably the best reading style and voice that I've ever heard. With this combination of story and performance it was always difficult to pause as necessary for other activities.
Insights into all of the major players involved were intriguing with perhaps the most interesting being Anwar Sadat, the outstanding hero of the whole story, and Syria's President Assad.
The Israeli players during this Kissinger period come across as very able people, strongly committed to sheer survival of a still-weak nation in the 1970s, often rigid and then showing surprising flexibility at times.
Kissinger's commitment to Israel is apparent even as he used the circumstances to make the US the dominant player in the region, taking over from the USSR. In other words, he had more than one agenda in play at the same time and, on his terms, he was successful in each of them
Kissinger comes across as a master of manipulation and, at times, a victim of his own attempts to over-control the process. But, love or dislike him, it's difficult to deny that he was a major contributor to Middle East stability - which was his intent.
However, his disinterest in the Palestinians comes over very strongly and one wonders how much has been lost for them and, in the process, a more peaceful Israel. Looking at it now, that's a festering sore for which no healing seems possible and one wonders throughout the story whether it might have been different.
This is a book well worth listening to.
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- Adam Rothschild
- 11-30-21
Fantastic covers the 73 war and aftermath better then any other book I have read
Tremendous detail. Kissinger was truly a genius. Covers every meeting in dramatic detail. What it takes to get a deal done.
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- Uri Pilichowski
- 11-16-21
Sad in its lack of creativity
I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a book as much as this one. Indyk is a great writer and his knowledge on diplomacy and especially diplomacy related to the Israeli-Arab conflict is well past expert level. There are many books written by insiders, and there are many books written by outsiders about insiders. It is rare to find a book by one insider (Indyk) reviewing another insider (Kissinger). Indyk’s research is remarkable. He obviously spent an enormous amount of time and effort into this book, and it shows. The beauty of this book is Indyk’s connecting Kissinger’s diplomatic attempts with Indyk’s own twenty years later. The constant “flashforwards” give a real sense of diplomacy and attempts at ending the Israeli-Arab conflict over the past five decades. If you are a follower of the US-Israel relationship, politics, diplomacy and/or history, I highly recommend this book, you will learn many new things and enjoy it along the way.
Indyk’s theses is the book is that Kissinger never thought an attempt to solve the Israeli-Arab conflict in one shot could work. Kissinger felt a step by step process was the only successful path to peace. Indyk seems to agree with Kissinger that gradualism is the better approach and admits that when he was Ambassador and part of the negotiating teams he took the opposite approach and repeatedly tried for a a comprehensive peace deal. He seems to admit his own mistake and says gradualism is the better approach.
As much as I enjoyed this book I was frustrated at Indyk’s refusal to perceive that the failed attempts at peace by American diplomats, Arab and Israeli leaders weren’t because of poor process, missed opportunities, bad timing or leaders who refused to compromise, but because the foundation at all attempts at solving the Israeli-Arab-Palestinian conflict have been based on an impossible end – two states for two people – that neither side wants nor thinks possible. Indyk and his State Department colleagues (those before and after him) have always assumed what the end looked like, and then tried to pressure, cajole, encourage both sides to get there. Instead of an open ended process where both sides negotiate a final outcome, the push has been to get to a place no one wants to go and get frustrated when they can’t get there.
It’s obvious to any non-biased observer that the two-state solution, a compromise where both Israel and the Palestinians get some of what they want, but not all of what they want, makes sense in the abstract, but when applied practically to the two sides is completely unrealistic and impossible. Yet diplomats like Indyk still insist on trying to make it work. They criticize anyone who refuses to go along with their process, not realizing that attempting the same failed process over and over is always going to result in failure.
The book’s ultimate failure lies in Indyk’s refusal to see that creative attempts like the Trump team’s novel approach are the only way the conflict is going to end. Indyk wrote that President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and his refusal to recognize Jerusalem as a Palestinian capital, his planned approval of 30% of settlements in the West Bank along with its 133 settlements, only tarnished America’s role as a mediator in the conflict. He claims John Kerry made the last serious effort to solve the conflict. He discounts Trump’s attempts because they didn’t follow the two state solution’s failed script.
Indyk claims the only way forward to solving the conflict is that Israel must recognize it will become safer by withdrawing from land in Area C. The first step in a gradual process ala Kissinger must be Israel withdrawing from certain areas in area C. Once Israel begins withdrawing from more of area C, then both the United States and Israel could recognize a Palestinian state with undefined borders. Indyk outlines three steps to gradual peace making.
The first step is Israel recognizing a Palestinian state with borders to be recognized later. The second step is for Palestinians to gradually gain more control over the West Bank. The third step is for Israel to stop expanding and building settlements.
I was curious about Indyk’s three steps. They all focus on Israeli steps. The Palestinians in Indyk’s eyes have nothing to do to end the conflict, it’s all on Israel’s shoulders. The absurdity of thinking the Palestinians have nothing to do, and the end of the conflict is only being held up by Israel demonstrates why Indyk himself failed at his life’s mission. Although he hopes men like Kissinger and himself, who have toiled for decades with no results, have planted the seeds of an eventual peace deal, the truth is Indyk’s refusal to admit his own mistakes has brought failure and will never produce any success.
It’s sad and pathetic, and those are the feelings the book leaves its reader.
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