Doomed to Succeed, Dennis Ross
Doomed to Succeed, Dennis Ross
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Doomed to Succeed
The U.S.-Israel Relationship from Truman to Obama

Author: Dennis Ross

Narrator: Michael Kramer

Unabridged: 18 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/13/2015


Synopsis

A necessary and unprecedented account of America's changing relationship with Israel

When it comes to Israel, U.S. policy has always emphasized the unbreakable bond between the two countries and our ironclad commitment to Israel's security. Today our ties to Israel are close—so close that when there are differences, they tend to make the news. But it was not always this way.
Dennis Ross has been a direct participant in shaping U.S. policy toward the Middle East, and Israel specifically, for nearly thirty years. He served in senior roles, including as Bill Clinton's envoy for Arab-Israeli peace, and was an active player in the debates over how Israel fit into the region and what should guide our policies. In Doomed to Succeed, he takes us through every administration from Truman to Obama, throwing into dramatic relief each president's attitudes toward Israel and the region, the often tumultuous debates between key advisers, and the events that drove the policies and at times led to a shift in approach.
Ross points out how rarely lessons were learned and how distancing the United States from Israel in the Eisenhower, Nixon, Bush, and Obama administrations never yielded any benefits and why that lesson has never been learned. Doomed to Succeed offers compelling advice for how to understand the priorities of Arab leaders and how future administrations might best shape U.S. policy in that light.

About Dennis Ross

Dennis Ross, Middle East envoy for George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, is now a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Foreign Affairs called his first book, The Missing Peace, “a major contribution to the diplomatic history of the twentieth century.”

About Michael Kramer

Michael Kramer has narrated over 100 audiobooks for many bestselling authors. He read all of Robert Jordan’s epic Wheel of Time fantasy-adventure series as well as Brandon Sanderson’s The Stormlight Archive series. He received AudioFile magazine's Earphones Award for the Kent Family series by John Jakes and for Alan Fulsom's The Day After Tomorrow. Known for his “spot-on character portraits and accents, and his resonant, well-tempered voice” (AudioFile), his work includes recording books for the Library of Congress’s Talking Books program for the blind and physically handicapped.Kramer also works as an actor in the Washington, D.C. area, where he lives with his wife, Jennifer Mendenhall (a.k.a. Kate Reading), and their two children. He has appeared as Lord Rivers in Richard III at The Shakespeare Theatre, Howie/Merlin in The Kennedy Center’s production of The Light of Excalibur, Sam Riggs and Frederick Savage in Woody Allen’s Central Park West/Riverside Drive, and Dr. Qari Shah in Tony Kushner’s Homebody/Kabul at Theatre J.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jean on November 21, 2015

This is an absolutely fascinating book so packed with information I could hardly put it down. Dennis Ross has served as one of the United States Middle Eastern policy makers through four recent administrations. Ross states this is not a history of Arab-Israeli peace efforts but rather a discussion o......more

Goodreads review by Nick on January 06, 2016

This book, despite my discomfort with some of the views Mr. Ross articulates, is a valuable contribution to the literature of US-Israel relations, and compellingly written. I was fascinated to learn, for instance, that there has always been considerable disagreement within the US administration on d......more

Goodreads review by Howard on May 08, 2016

Dennis Ross, the insider’s insider when it comes to Arab-Israeli negotiations, has written an amalgam of history, analysis, and memoir in the wonderfully titled Doomed to Succeed, which rigorously traces the roller-coaster ride of the U.S.-Israel relationship from Truman to Obama. Ross, who has held......more

Goodreads review by Ray on February 19, 2016

Dennis Ross provides an interesting take on how all the U.S. Presidents dealt with the State of Israel, from Harry Truman and the founding of the Jewish State in 1948, all the way through to Barack Obama. It's fair to say that all U.S. Presidents have been supportive of Israel to a greater or lesser......more

Goodreads review by Charlie on April 17, 2017

I found Ross's book a fascinating, comprehensive account, well organized, impartial look at a very complicated, misunderstood international situation. The best part is Dennis Ross has been an insider participant from the beginning.......more


Quotes

“Important, voluminous and keenly balanced . . . Ross's analysis of the peace process is astute, but the real service he performs in this book is less in explaining the meaning of events than in setting the record straight.” —Ethan Bronner, The New York Times Book Review on The Missing Peace


Awards

  • National Jewish Book Award - Winner