In America’s Middle East (Oxford, 2025), Marc Lynch charts how the United States disastrously failed in its approach to the post–Cold War Middle East. As a long-time observer of and participant in US policy debates, Lynch addresses the failures of each president’s efforts (both Republican and Democrat) to transform the Middle East in America’s image and/or pivot away from the region. Throughout, Lynch notes Washington’s refusal to take seriously the views of Middle Easterners and its fantasy of forging a regional order ‘without’ addressing the Palestinian issue. Moving between American politics and Middle Eastern realities, Lynch explains why US policy has not changed despite its horrifying human costs, from Iraq, Lebanon and Syria to Iran, Yemen and Libya.

Marc Lynch is Professor of Political Science and Director of Middle East Studies at The George Washington University. He is also founder and director of the Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS). His other most recent books include The Arab Uprising: The Unfinished Revolutions of the New Middle East, The New Arab Wars: Anarchy and Uprising in the Middle East, and What is the Middle East?