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Title: JFK faces the Middle East
Review: Parts of this exhaustively researched historical account read like a novel. Looking back forty years later on Middle East crises of the early 1960s, Bass shows a remarkable sense of depth and history. His accounts of West Wing meetings and diplomatic spats can be fascinating, and the image he presents of JFK's relationship with Israel and its leaders is totally believable and in keeping with what we already know about JFK in other arenas. The president is deeply engaged when he wants to be, acts out of principle, and has an all-too-honest view of humans' frailties. Interestingly, Bass found little evidence that domestic politics or the "Israel lobby" affected foreign policy in the Kennedy years.Parts of the book are a bit too detailed and will be of interest mainly to specialists, but I do recommend the book to anyone interested in Israel, the Middle East generally, or America in the 1960s.
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