Lion of Jordan: The Life of King Hussein in War and Peace »

Avi Shlaim was born in Baghdad in 1945, grew up in Israel, and studied at Cambridge University and the London School of Economics. He is a Fellow of St. Anthony's College and a professor of international relations at the University of Oxford. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2006. His books include Collusion Across the Jordan: King Abdullah, the Zionist Movement, and the Partition of Palestine (winner of the Political Studies Association’s 1988 WJM Mackenzie Prize); The Politics of Partition; War and Peace in the Middle East: A Concise History; and The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World. He lives in Oxford.

During his long reign (1953–1999), King Hussein of Jordan was one of the most dominant figures in Middle Eastern politics and a consistent proponent of peace with Israel. This is the first major account of his life, written with access to his official documents and with the cooperation (but not approval) of his family and staff, and also extensive interviews with international policy makers.

For more than forty years, Hussein walked a tightrope between the Palestinians and Arab radicals on the one hand and Israel on the other. Avi Shlaim reveals that, for the sake of dynastic and national survival, Hussein initiated a secret dialogue with Israel in 1963 that encompassed more than one thousand hours with Golda Meir, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Shamir, Yitzhak Rabin, and countless others. Shlaim reconstructs this dialogue across battle lines from previously untapped Israeli records and the firsthand accounts of key participants, and makes clear that it was Israeli intransigence that was largely responsible for the failure to achieve a peaceful settlement between 1967 and 1994.

At Hussein’s memorial service at St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Prince of Wales hailed him as “a man amongst men, a king amongst kings.” Lion of Jordan illuminates the triumphs and disappointments, the qualities and character of this extraordinary soldier and statesman, and significantly rewrites the history of the Middle East over the past fifty years.

The Washington Post - Sandra Mackey

In Lion of Jordan, Avi Shlaim brilliantly lays out Hussein's search for tranquillity for his country and his neighbors, and the obstacles his negotiating partners put in his way.

List of Maps

List of Illustrations

1 The Hashemite Heritage 3

2 Murder of a Mentor 40

3 The Making of a King 61

4 The Baghdad Pact Fiasco 77

5 The Dismissal of Glubb 99

6 The Liberal Experiment 113

7 A Royal Coup 131

8 The Year of Revolution 155

9 Arab Foes and Jewish Friends 174

10 The Palestinian Challenge 204

11 The Road to War 225

12 Picking Up the Pieces 255

13 Dialogue Across the Battle Lines 281

14 Civil War 315

15 The United Arab Kingdom Plan 346

16 The October War 361

17 The Road to Rabat 376

18 The Camp David Accords 396

19 Lebanon and the Reagan Plan 412

20 Peace Partnership with the PLO 428

21 The London Agreement 446

22 Intifada and Disengagement 460

23 The Gulf Crisis and War 485

24 From Madrid to Oslo 514

25 Peace Treaty 539

26 The King's Peace 554

27 Collision Course 567

28 The Last Journey 589

Epilogue: The Life and Legacy 616

Notes 624

Jordanian Secret Meetings with Israeli Officials 671

The Hashemite Dynasty 673

Chronology 674

Interviews 681

Bibliography 685

Index 696