Ross, the chief Middle East peace negotiator in the presidential administrations of George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, recounts the peace process in detail from 1988 to the breakdown of talks in early 2001 that prompted the so-called second Intifada. It's all here: Camp David, Oslo, Geneva, Egypt, and other summits; the assassination of Yitzak Rabin; the rise and fall of Benjamin Netanyahu; the very different characters and strategies of Rabin, Yasir Arafat, and Bill Clinton; and the first steps of the Palestinian Authority. [Farrar, Straus and Giroux]
Critic Reviews
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Outstanding
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Booklist Jay Freeman
A masterful, riveting, and scrupulously fair account of a process that now seems like a noble failure. [1 June 2004, p.1690]
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Outstanding
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Publishers Weekly
An epic diplomat's handbook.
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Favorable
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The Economist
Mr Ross's [book] is the one for the historians. In more than 800 pages, an official at the centre of American diplomacy gives a detailed meeting-by-meeting account of who said what to whom. But be warned: it is hardly light reading.
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Favorable
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The Globe And Mail [Toronto] Michael Bell
Ross leaves nothing unturned, but due to his zeal to present a complete picture, the narrative sometimes loses momentum and takes on the baggy formlessness of journal entries.
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Favorable
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Christian Science Monitor Peter Grier
This is a book for readers who already have at least a passing knowledge of the historical forces that have swirled through the Middle East since the first Arab-Israeli war of 1948. Breezy, it's not.
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Favorable
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Kirkus Reviews
Though tedious -- and aptly so -- Ross's study does much to explain why the Oslo Accords have never taken. In this respect alone, it's an important addition to the literature of the Middle East conflict.
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Mixed
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Library Journal Marcia L. Sprules
While researchers will find this a valuable resource for its firsthand perspective, nonspecialists will likely be overwhelmed by the minute detail and the regular use of first names only when referring to other participants in the negotiations. [July 2004, p.104]
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Mixed
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New York Review Of Books Robert Malley
Ross's one-dimensional take on Arafat is all the more peculiar in a book characterized, for the most part, by nuance. His pen is often sharp, but almost invariably forgiving.
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Mixed
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The Nation Avi Shlaim
A comprehensive and fascinating memoir about the trials and tribulations of an American peace processor...Yet The Missing Peace raises serious questions about the soundness of the Israel-first school of which Dennis Ross is a prominent member.
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Mixed
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The New York Times Max Boot
Mr. Ross, for his part, remains ''a believer in U.S. engagement in Middle East peacemaking,'' though he never convincingly explains why this would work any better now than it did a few years ago.
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Mixed
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The New York Times Book Review Ethan Bronner
As important as this work is to history, I am sorry to report that it makes little contribution to the art of storytelling. It is overly long and frequently dull. In 800-plus pages, Ross offers a landscape virtually devoid of humanity.
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Mixed
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Washington Post Glenn Frankel
An equally noble, exhaustive and, at times, exhausting 800-page account of the people and the process.
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