& FREE Returns

FREE delivery Friday, April 1. Order within 2 hrs 46 mins

Or fastest delivery Tuesday, March 29

In Stock.

As an alternative, the Kindle eBook is available now and can be read on any device with the free Kindle app.

[{"displayPrice":"$27.99","priceAmount":27.99,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"27","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"99","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"7Ntg76jSpj299A5MLgqNQ5E46Fy6aLEAPpih9M0SX%2FUUy%2BdWxU5ttp3dJ0%2BjcQmUyakAHwzr398clCa87bEYdgPog6wdKXNK2DVz0qejhR%2BsMG8%2FKCiVBymSfhSw%2Bm5x6PrpIx29pIM%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW"},{"displayPrice":"$14.70","priceAmount":14.70,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"14","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"70","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"7Ntg76jSpj299A5MLgqNQ5E46Fy6aLEAXLp3HCQGPq3YyZ1O7LCuGcSxAO1hTPTp8kn5gczBUFzVLHBgYVfStQOyzLBneJeVP%2FBx2oiN9eR%2FLjcsezcWJ0eLQYmgcY%2BJMhDqpW%2BSklC0tw04dAjj4t8SR%2FRn5kojkvXYaZkjfp9NnD1snSTbyp%2B72WHV%2BI1Y","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED"}]

$$27.99 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Secure transaction

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Details

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Return policy: Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

FREE delivery Friday, April 1 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon. Order within 2 hrs 46 mins

Or fastest delivery Thursday, March 31

Used: Good | Details

Sold by Martistore

Fulfilled by Amazon

Share <Embed>

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

$24.44
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: sweethomeliquid2

Added

Not added

$24.44
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: ZiFiti

Added

Not added

$30.38
& FREE Shipping. Details

Sold by: Ifortrade

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 3 images

Follow the Author

Lawrence Freedman

A Choice of Enemies: America Confronts the Middle East Paperback – July 14, 2009

by Lawrence Freedman (Author)

20 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$3.99

—

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$29.30

$25.27

$3.00

Paperback

"Please retry"

$27.99

$23.24

$3.74

Enhance your purchase

It is in the Middle East that the U.S. has been made to confront its attitudes on the use of force, the role of allies, and international law. The history of the U.S. in the Middle East, then, becomes an especially revealing mirror on America's view of its role in the wider world.

In this wise, objective, and illuminating history, Lawrence Freedman shows how three key events in 1978-1979 helped establish the foundations for U.S. involvement in the Middle East that would last for thirty years, without offering any straightforward or bloodless exit options: the Camp David summit leading to the Israel-Egypt Treaty; the Iranian Islamic revolution leading to the Shah's departure followed by the hostage crisis; and the socialist revolution in Afghanistan, resulting in the doomed Soviet intervention. Drawing on his considerable expertise, Freedman makes clear how America's strategic choices in those and subsequent crises led us to where we are today.

Print length

640 pages
Language

English
Publisher

PublicAffairs
Publication date

July 14, 2009
Dimensions

6 x 1.59 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

1586487019
ISBN-13

978-1586487010
See all details

Frequently bought together

William Harris
3
Hardcover
32 offers from $3.49
Lawrence Freedman
153
Hardcover
32 offers from $2.64
Trita Parsi
90
Hardcover
49 offers from $1.92
Lawrence Freedman
598
Paperback
35 offers from $14.50
Lawrence Freedman
24
Hardcover
21 offers from $25.02
Lawrence Freedman
25
Hardcover
33 offers from $2.25

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lawrence Freedman is emeritus professor of War Studies at King's College London. Elected a fellow of the British Academy in 1995 and awarded the CBE in 1996, he was appointed official historian of the Falklands Campaign in 1997. He was awarded the KCMG in 2003. In June 2009, he was appointed to serve as a member of the official inquiry into Britain and the 2003 Iraq War.

Professor Freedman has written extensively on nuclear strategy and the Cold War, as well as commentating regularly on contemporary security issues. His book, Strategy, was a best book of 2013 in the Financial Times, A Choice of Enemies: America Confronts the Middle East won the 2009 Lionel Gelber Prize and Duke of Westminster Medal for Military Literature.

Start reading A Choice of Enemies: America Confronts the Middle East on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ PublicAffairs; Reprint edition (July 14, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 640 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1586487019
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1586487010
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.75 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.59 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,498,617 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #698 in Iran History
- #719 in Iraq History (Books)
- #1,546 in Iraq War History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
20 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Lawrence Freedman

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

5 star		39%
4 star		42%
3 star		9%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star		10%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Micheline Beauchemin

an enlightened conclusion

Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2014

Verified Purchase

Mr Freedman explains in, sometimes excruciating details, the events and actors from the 90's leading to the current quagmire in the Middle East. Israel and Palestine are not the main topics, except for the botched attempt to root out Hezbollah in Lebanon. Rightly so because it is the main excuse used by the regimes and the citizens not to tackle more deeply rooted causes of the region descending into mayhem. The author also stresses the need for America to engage into informal dialogues with Iran, akin to the diplomacy going on behind closed doors during the Cold War with the Soviet Union, in order to build up contacts and conduits in case of disaster. If things can go wrong they will go wrong, and the situation is never that bad that it suddenly can't take a turn for the worse.
He also makes clear that America works with different timelines than the countries in the region, with electoral campaigns, regular changes of presidents and majorities in government. The Obama administration lost several years dealing with the economic crisis. In the Middle East changes are slow and rotation of political parties usually irregular but violent. US presidents, congress and the general public have very short attention spans, and the thought of leaving the wretched region sorts itself out is strong. It needs to be resisted.
The USA is in danger of adopting the ways of the Middle East instead of the other way around. The concluding chapter in just a few pages, sums up in limpid arguments, where the US policies have gone wrong and what should be done. Maybe the experiences of Japan and Germany nation building exercises don't apply as the civil societies are not strong in most of the countries engaged in conflicts with the Western world at large and the US in particular, but there is no other game in town.

Helpful

Retired Reader

The Uncertainty Principle

Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2008

Verified Purchase

This book is a history of how the U.S. formulated and executed Middle Eastern Policy over a thirty year period from the Presidency of Jimmy Carter (1978-1982) through that of George W Bush (2000-2008). It also provides a useful, but concise summary of U.S - Middle East relations from the end of WWII to 1978. Essentially it provides an analysis not only of each presidential administration's Middle East Policy, but provides a description of how the policy formation process of each administration actually worked. Not surprisingly it was different for each president.

As the book makes clear, the U.S. has held two remarkably consistent strategic goals for this entire period: the security of the State of Israel; and the security of Middle Eastern oil production. Yet in a volatile region like the Middle East events well beyond U.S. control often erupt to disrupt the most carefully planned policy implementations. Freedman recounts for example how President Carter's tenure was defined by the Iranian Revolution and its subsequent hostage crises, even though Carter really wanted to be remembered for establishing peaceful and enduring relationship between the Israelis and Palestinians. Often the success or failure of U.S. policy in the region was a function of being able to cope with unexpected events or unintended consequences that suddenly threatened one or both of the strategic goals. Reading this book one is struck by how dicey even the best formulated policies are for this region.

Of course Freedman devotes a good deal of attention to the current administration and its involvement in Afghanistan (and Pakistan) and Iraq/Iran. He attempts to trace the thought processes that gradually coalesced into what was known as Operation Iraqi Freedom and its aftermath. In doing so he identifies the emergence of the doctrine of preventive war and concept of a Global War on Terror. He then tries to provide a balanced summary of U.S. operations in Iraq up to the current partially successful surge that has brought a measure of stability to that unhappy country.

In the end he suggests that the U.S. might be well advised to adopt a Middle East Policy similar to that suggested by Ken Pollock in his latest book, "A Path Out of the Desert", which the book reviewer of the UK Magazine, "The Economist" suggested should be read together with the Freedman book. Both by most standards are pretty good books.

12 people found this helpful

Helpful

Lizardking

Excellent read.

Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2015

Verified Purchase

Amazing ride through the last few decades of Middle East Policy. Very even handed and fair through every administration.

Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2015

Verified Purchase

Thank you

Helpful

Newton Ooi

A good overview of America's role in the Middle East

Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2013

This book by English professor Lawrence Freedman provides an overview of US policies in the Middle East from the administration of Jimmy Carter through G. W. Bush. The book hits all the key countries with chapters built around key events such as the Iran-Contra scandal, the Iraq invasion of Kuwait, the first and second intifada in Palestine, and the 9/11 attacks. For each topic, the author explains how events unfolded and how this affected US relations with countries and citizens in the Middle East. The author cites many of the important books already published on the topic, and gives lip service to most of the viewpoints and theories around each event. The latter includes citing the October Surprise element of the Iran hostage crisis, and the influence of Zionists within the US government. The book does a decent job of citing the key political players in each country, from officials such as prime ministers, generals, and presidents, to private figures with large influence such as religious leaders in Iran, key Iraqi defectors, neoconservative movers and shakers in the US, and terrorist leaders in the Arabian peninsula. The book also should be applauded for acknowledging and exploring the government-sanctioned arms trade between the US and Israel on one side, and Iran and Iraq on the other side.

However, for all its depth and breadth, the book mostly sanctions the official versions presented in the mass media. This means that the role of oil corporations in pushing the invasion of Iraq in 2003 is minimized. Likewise the Israeli influence in US policy-making is limited solely through the lens of Cold War politics and the Jewish lobby in key US states, with minimal mention of the large economic relations between the US and Israel via major corporations both inside and outside the military-industrial complex of both countries. And of course with respect to 9-11, this book essentially follows the version of events put forth by the 9-11 Commission. So overall, a good but not a ground-breaking or controversial book.

One person found this helpful

Helpful