A World of Trouble

As we watch the Obama Inauguration set against the international backdrop of the war in Gaza, it's important to remember that every administration since Eisenhower has been tested by events in the Middle East.  The 1956 seizure of the Suez Canal, the 1967 Six-Day War, the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, the 1987 Intifada, the Iran-Iraq war in 1988, the First Gulf War, the second Intifada and finally the invasion of Iraq, have all taken their toll on this country and its leaders.  Patrick Tyler, who has reported from both the Middle East and Washington for the New York Times and The Washington Post provides a panoramic history of this period in his new book A World of Trouble: The White House and the Middle East--from the Cold War to the War on Terror. It's a history we ignore at our own peril.

My conversation with Patrick Tyler: