The End of Ambition: America's Past, Present and Future in the Middle East

In The End of Ambition, Steven A. Cook charts the course of the United States' encounter with the Middle East from the mid-twentieth century through the present day. Looking back, Cook makes a bold claim: the US was--despite setbacks and moral costs--successful. That record of achievement began to unravel in the early 1990s when policymakers embarked upon a set of overly ambitious policies to remake the Middle East. Cook highlights that calls to withdraw from the region are rash given the important interests the US maintains in the region. Yet, he also underscores how those interests are changing and explores alternatives to America's current approach to the Middle East against the backdrop of political uncertainty in the United States and a changing global order.

A clear-headed vision for the United States' role in the Middle East that highlights the changing nature of US national interests and the challenges of grand strategizing at a time of profound change in the international order.

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Release date

Audiobook: 13 January 2025