An Incautious Man: The Life of Gouveneur Morris (Lives of the Founders)
Indyk was ambassador to Israel and assistant secretary of state for Middle East affairs under President Clinton, and as such he was a key figure in that administration’s Herculean yet ultimately unsuccessful efforts to achieve a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace agreement in the final months of Clinton’s tenure. With this book, Indyk provides a thorough and detailed firsthand account of the administration’s multi-track negotiation strategies, its limited but noteworthy successes, and its many failures. As this account’s title suggests, Indyk’s analysis is largely a cautionary tale about the risks of what he calls “naive idealism” in U.S. statecraft, particularly where the “siren song” of Middle East peace is concerned. But Indyk also recognizes that a certain degree of idealism, when coupled with realistic expectations and the patience to negotiate, is necessary, and the alternatives—idealism without engagement, or cynical realpolitik—are no better. Though covering much of the same territory as his colleague Dennis Ross in The Missing Peace (2004), the two accounts are more conversant than duplicative. This selection will be much appreciated by foreign-policy wonks as well as the peace negotiators of the twenty-first century. --Brendan Driscoll