What happens when ambition in foreign policy turns into a quagmire of failures and unmet expectations? Steven A. Cook tackles this provocative question head-on in his insightful book, The End of Ambition: America’s Past, Present, and Future in the Middle East, offering a critical examination of US foreign policy’s evolution in the region. Cook, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, contends that America’s ambitious attempts to reshape the Middle East often led to notable achievements and significant failures amid shifting geopolitical landscapes.
The book begins with a provocative question (4): “How was it that American foreign policy had arrived at the intersection of fantasy and failure in the Middle East, especially after previous years of success in the region?” Cook proposes a future approach—a vision for the US government and its future Middle Eastern policy.
US foreign strategy in the Middle East, as stated by Cook,...