More than twen­ty 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 read­ers inside the nego­ti­a­tions. Indyk’s account is 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 — and how not— to make peace.