"Fawaz Gerges does a masterful job of exposing the decades of fiascos, debacles and gratuitous violence that define the bumbling of U.S. empire in the Middle East. This is a searing indictment of an American foreign policy establishment that, in country after country in the Middle East, consistently made things worse."–Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize-winning former Middle East Bureau chief for the
New York Times "Gerges, one of our keenest observers of the Middle East, shows how Washington's Cold Warriors misunderstood Iranian and Egyptian nationalism in the 1950s, and through coups and interventions began the destabilization of the region. It is a bracing tale of hubris and overweening ambition."–Juan Cole, University of Michigan
"Fawaz Gerges's
What Really Went Wrong is a must read. While there are many books on the Middle East, none offer its data, documentation and unique analysis, critique and conclusions of the trajectory of the George W. Bush administration's flawed foreign policy. Gerges's book should be required reading in courses on the history and politics of the Middle East and American foreign policy and diplomacy."–John L. Esposito, author of
The Future of Islam