The Much Too Promised Land: America's Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace » (Reprint)

Aaron David Miller became a Public Policy Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in January 2006, where he wrote The Much Too Promised Land.

For the prior two decades, he served at the Department of State as an advisor to six secretaries of state, where he helped formulate U.S. policy on the Middle East and the Arab-Israel peace process, most recently as the Senior Advisor for Arab-Israeli Negotiations. He also served as the Deputy Special Middle East Coordinator for Arab-Israeli Negotiations, Senior Member of the State Department's Policy Planning Staff, in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and in the Office of the Historian. He has received the department's Distinguished, Superior, and Meritorious Honor Awards.

Mr. Miller received his Ph.D. in American Diplomatic and Middle East History from the University of Michigan in 1977 and joined the State Department the following year. During 1982 and 1983, he was a Council on Foreign Relations fellow and a resident scholar at the Georgetown Center for Strategic and International Studies. In 1984 he served a temporary tour at the American Embassy in Amman, Jordan. Between 1998 and 2000, Mr. Miller served on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. After leaving the state department, Mr. Miller served as president of Seeds of Peace from January 2003 until January 2006. Seeds of Peace is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering young leaders from regions of conflict with the leadership skills required to advance reconciliation and coexistence (www.seedsofpeace.org).

His media and speaking appearances include CNN (including “American Morning,” “Wolf Blitzer Reports,”), “The Newshour with Jim Lehrer,” FOX News, “The NBC Nightly News,” “CBS Evening News,” National Public Radio, the BBC, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Al Arabiya, and Al Jazeera. Mr. Miller has also been a featured presenter for the World Economic Forum in Davos and Amman, Harvard University, Columbia University, New York University, University of California at Berkeley, The City Club of Cleveland, Chatham House, and The International Institute for Strategic Studies. He has written three prior books on the Middle East and his articles have appeared in newspapers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and The International Herald Tribune.

Mr. Miller lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with his wife, Lindsay. They have two children: a daughter, Jennifer, and a son, Daniel.

For nearly twenty years, Aaron David Miller has played a central role in U.S. efforts to broker Arab-Israeli peace. His position as an advisor to presidents, secretaries of state, and national security advisors has given him a unique perspective on a problem that American leaders have wrestled with for more than half a century: Why has the world’s greatest superpower failed to find a solution for peace in the Middle East?

Here is an insider’s view of the peace process, filled with unforgettable behind-the-scenes stories and interviews with all the key players as they disclose the inner thoughts and strategies that motivated them. The result is a book which shatters preconceived notions about tackling the complicated issues of culture, religion, domestic politics, and national security that have defined—and often derailed—a half century of diplomacy.

The New York Times - Ethan Bronner

…[a] revealing and well-written…Apart from such self-criticism, what is unusual about this memoir when compared with other, similar ones is how lively, even irreverent, it is. Mr. Miller is a fine raconteur who fills his pages with real characters and sly observations.

Introduction: "Where did you get those shoes?" 1

Part 1 America's Promise Challenged 9

Chapter 1 A negotiator's tale 13

Chapter 2 Gulliver's troubles: a great power in a world of small ones 30

Chapter 3 Israel's lawyers: how domestic politics shapes america's arab-israeli diplomacy 75

Part 2 America's Promise Kept 125

Chapter 4 Henry kissinger: strategist 129

Chapter 5 Jimmy carter: missionary 157

Chapter 6 James baker: negotiator 191

Part 3 America's Promise Frustrated 235

Chapter 7 Caterer, cash man, and crisis manager, 1993-99 239

Chapter 8 Mr. nice guy: bill clinton and the arabs and israelis he loved too much, 1999-2001 278

Part 4 America's Promise Abandoned? 317

Chapter 9 The disengager: george w. bush and the pursuit of arab-israeli peace, 2001-2007 321

Chapter 10 One more last chance: is arab-israeli peace possible, and what can america do about it? 363

Notes 386

List of Interviews 391

Acknowledgments 397

Index 399