Overview

A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2014 PICK A TOP TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR PICK BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY A gripping account of the 1978 Camp David summit when President Jimmy Carter persuaded Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat to sign the first peace treaty in the modern Middle East, one which endures to this day. With his hallmark insight into the forces at play in the Middle East, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Lawrence Wright takes us through each of these historic thirteen days, illuminating the issues that have made the problems of the region so intractable and exploring the scriptural narratives that continue to frame the conflict. What emerges is a riveting view of the making of this unexpected and unprecedented peace treaty.

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Wright ( Going Clear ), Pulitzer Prize winner and staff writer for the New Yorker, offers a thorough study of the Camp David Accords of 1978 in this meticulously researched affair, which goes beyond the core events to address a multitude of historical factors. On the surface, this is about U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and the 13 days the men and their respective staffs spent trying to hammer out a peace treaty. Wright takes the conference day by day, detailing the clashes and compromises that marked the final results. He also delves into biblical events and the numerous conflicts following Israel's creation in 1948. As Wright puts it, This book is an account of how these three flawed men, strengthened but also encumbered by their faiths, managed to forge a partial and incomplete peace, an achievement that nonetheless stands as one of the great diplomatic triumphs of the twentieth century. Alternating between biographical studies of the people involved, sociopolitical histories of the countries and faiths represented, and an almost nail-bitingly tense unfolding of the conference itself, Wright delivers an authoritative, fascinating, and relatively unbiased exploration of a pivotal period and a complicated subject. -- Publishers Weekly A day-by-day account of the tense negotiations, artfully mixing in modern and ancient history, biblical allusions, portraits of the principals--Jimmy Carter, Menachem Begin, Anwar Sadat--and thumbnail sketches of key participants: Americans Cyrus Vance and Zbigniew Brzezinski, Israelis Moshe Dayan and Ezer Weizman, and Egyptians Mohamed Ibrahim Kamel and Boutros Boutros-Ghali. The author examines all the forces that shaped these historic talks: the isolation imposed by the presidential retreat high in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains; the divisions within the Egyptian and Israeli delegations; the almost unprecedented nature of detailed negotiations con

Praise for Thirteen Days in September One of the New York Times Top Ten Best Books of the Year A magnificent book [from] one of our finest nonfiction writers. . . . In his minute-by-minute account of the talks Wright intersperses a concise history of Egyptian-Israeli relations dating from the story of Exodus. Even more important is Wright's understanding that Sadat, Begin and Carter were not just political leaders, but exemplars of the Holy Land's three internecine religious traditions. --Joe Klein, New York Times Book Review, front page An engrossing chronicle of Carter's marathon peace negotiations with Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat at Camp David . . . an illuminating view of a vital event that has been all but forgotten--and of a single-minded, even messianic president whose White House years have been denigrated and discredited . . . In examining the three, Wright is both fascinated and fair-minded, seeing men of faith and fortitude, and ultimately of vision, with stark similarities and even starker differences. . . . A wonderful book. --David M. Shribman, Boston Globe A psychologically astute and lively history of the Arab-Israeli conflict told through the lens of the negotiations that brought one of its most bitter and bloody chapters to an end. --Samuel Thrope, Haaretz One of the many merits of Wright's book is to demonstrate, at a moment when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict looks more intractable than ever, how unswerving commitment allied to imagination and boldness can make something of nothing. The sine qua non, however, is political courage, an almost forgotten commodity. --Roger Cohen, The New York Review of Books It is brilliant penetrating scholarship. . . . Wright expertly captures every move of the three-way realpolitik chess match. By using each man's biography to illuminate the history of his respective nation, he not only chronicles Camp David but elucidates the issues that continue to plague the Middle East. --Jeff Labrecque, Entertainment Weekly Exceedingly balanced, highly readable, and appropriately sober. --Hector Tobar, Los Angeles Times A unique moment in history superbly captured . . . a day-by-day account of the tense negotiations that shaped these historic talks . . . Yet another triumph for Wright. -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review Meticulously researched . . . almost nail-bitingly tense . . . an authoritative, fascinating, and relatively unbiased exploration of a pivotal period and a complicated subject. -- Publishers Weekly, starred review In fine sketches of the personalities -- not just Carter, Sadat, and Begin, but their eccentric minions -- Wright shows just how difficult it was to achieve a lasting truce, and makes old news only more relevant in a region where something new happens every day but nothing really changes. --Boris Kachka, Vulture.com The best part of Thirteen Days in September --edging out even its breakneck pace and utterly confident narrative style--is Wright's almost Plutarchian skill at character sketches. --Steve Donaghue, Open Letters Monthly Literature Review. Fascinating personal and historic detail. -- Christian Science Monitor A splendid and suspenseful account of the Camp David negotiations. --Vince Camuto, Minneapolis Star/Tribune Spellbinding . . . A cliffhanger . . . What makes the story a page-turner isn't the day-by-day details of the negotiations. It's Wright's seamless, compelling backgrounding of the region's violent history, the enmities and peculiarities of the players who came to the remote presidential retreat in the Maryland mountains to reach a monumental, if flawed, accord that endures to this day. --Ellen Warren, The Chicago Tribune Mr. Wright displays a sensitive understanding of the region and a fine pen as he sketches in the characters and motivations of the three main players. -- The Economist A chronicle of diplomatic success . . . The heart of the book is the daily, sometimes hourly shifts in tactics and postures, stands and counterstands, that unfolded over 13 days in 1978. --Earl Pike, Cleveland Plain Dealer From the Hardcover edition. Praise for Thirteen Days in September A magnificent book [from] one of our finest nonfiction writers. . . . In his minute-by-minute account of the talks Wright intersperses a concise history of Egyptian-Israeli relations dating from the story of Exodus. Even more important is Wright's understanding that Sadat, Begin and Carter were not just political leaders, but exemplars of the Holy Land's three internecine religious traditions. --Joe Klein, New York Times Book Review, front page It is brilliant penetrating scholarship. . . . Wright expertly captures every move of the three-way realpolitik chess match. By using each man's biography to illuminate the history of his respective nation, he not only chronicles Camp David but elucidates the issues that continue to plague the Middle East. --Jeff Labrecque, Entertainment Weekly Exceedingly balanced, highly readable, and appropriately sober. --Hector Tobar, Los Angeles Times A unique moment in history superbly captured . . . a day-by-day account of the tense negotiations that shaped these historic talks . . . Yet another triumph for Wright. -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review Meticulously researched . . . almost nail-bitingly tense . . . an authoritative, fascinating, and relatively unbiased exploration of a pivotal period and a complicated subject. -- Publishers Weekly, starred review In fine sketches of the personalities -- not just Carter, Sadat, and Begin, but their eccentric minions -- Wright shows just how difficult it was to achieve a lasting truce, and makes old news only more relevant in a region where something new happens every day but nothing really changes. --Boris Kachka, Vulture.com The best part of Thirteen Days in September --edging out even its breakneck pace and utterly confident narrative style--is Wright's almost Plutarchian skill at character sketches. --Steve Donaghue, Open Letters Monthly Literature Review. Fascinating personal and historic detail. -- Christian Science Monitor A splendid and suspenseful account of the Camp David negotiations. --Vince Camuto, Minneapolis Star/Tribune An engrossing chronicle of Carter's marathon peace negotiations with Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat at Camp David . . . an illuminating view of a vital event that has been all but forgotten--and of a single-minded, even messianic president whose White House years have been denigrated and discredited . . . In examining the three, Wright is both fascinated and fair-minded, seeing men of faith and fortitude, and ultimately of vision, with stark similarities and even starker differences. . . . A wonderful book. --David M. Shribman, Boston Globe Spellbinding . . . A cliffhanger . . . What makes the story a page-turner isn't the day-by-day details of the negotiations. It's Wright's seamless, compelling backgrounding of the region's violent history, the enmities and peculiarities of the players who came to the remote presidential retreat in the Maryland mountains to reach a monumental, if flawed, accord that endures to this day. --Ellen Warren, The Chicago Tribune Mr. Wright displays a sensitive understanding of the region and a fine pen as he sketches in the characters and motivations of the three main players. -- The Economist A psychologically astute and lively history of the Arab-Israeli conflict told through the lens of the negotiations that brought one of its most bitter and bloody chapters to an end. --Samuel Thrope, Haaretz A chronicle of diplomatic success . . . The heart of the book is the daily, sometimes hourly shifts in tactics and postures, stands and counterstands, that unfolded over 13 days in 1978. --Earl Pike, Cleveland Plain Dealer From the Hardcover edition. Wright ( Going Clear ), Pulitzer Prize winner and staff writer for the New Yorker, offers a thorough study of the Camp David Accords of 1978 in this meticulously researched affair, which goes beyond the core events to address a multitude of historical factors. On the surface, this is about U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and the 13 days the men and their respective staffs spent trying to hammer out a peace treaty. Wright takes the conference day by day, detailing the clashes and compromises that marked the final results. He also delves into biblical events and the numerous conflicts following Israel's creation in 1948. As Wright puts it, This book is an account of how these three flawed men, strengthened but also encumbered by their faiths, managed to forge a partial and incomplete peace, an achievement that nonetheless stands as one of the great diplomatic triumphs of the twentieth century. Alternating between biographical studies of the people involved, sociopolitical histories of the countries and faiths represented, and an almost nail-bitingly tense unfolding of the conference itself, Wright delivers an authoritative, fascinating, and relatively unbiased exploration of a pivotal period and a complicated subject. -- Publishers Weekly A day-by-day account of the tense negotiations, artfully mixing in modern and ancient history, biblical allusions, portraits of the principals--Jimmy Carter, Menachem Begin, Anwar Sadat--and thumbnail sketches of key participants: Americans Cyrus Vance and Zbigniew Brzezinski, Israelis Moshe Dayan and Ezer Weizman, and Egyptians Mohamed Ibrahim Kamel and Boutros Boutros-Ghali. The author examines all the forces that shaped these historic talks: the isolation imposed by the presidential retreat high in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains; the divisions within the Egyptian and Israeli delegations; the almost unprecedented nature of detailed negotiations con

Wright ( Going Clear ), Pulitzer Prize winner and staff writer for the New Yorker , offers a thorough study of the Camp David Accords of 1978 in this meticulously researched affair, which goes beyond the core events to address a multitude of historical factors. On the surface, this is about U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and the 13 days the men and their respective staffs spent trying to hammer out a peace treaty. Wright takes the conference day by day, detailing the clashes and compromises that marked the final results. He also delves into biblical events and the numerous conflicts following Israel's creation in 1948. As Wright puts it, This book is an account of how these three flawed men, strengthened but also encumbered by their faiths, managed to forge a partial and incomplete peace, an achievement that nonetheless stands as one of the great diplomatic triumphs of the twentieth century. Alternating between biographical studies of the people involved, sociopolitical histories of the countries and faiths represented, and an almost nail-bitingly tense unfolding of the conference itself, Wright delivers an authoritative, fascinating, and relatively unbiased exploration of a pivotal period and a complicated subject. -- Publishers Weekly

Author Information

Lawrence Wright is a staff writer for The New Yorker, and the author of one novel, God's Favorite, and six previous books of nonfiction, including In the New World; Saints and Sinners; Remembering Satan; The Looming Tower, which was the recipient of many honors; and Going Clear. He is also a screenwriter and a playwright. He and his wife are longtime residents of Austin, Texas.

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