The Twilight War

Hostility and mistrust have characterized U.S.-Iranian relations since the 1979 Iranian revolution and hostage crisis. Crist, a senior historian for the federal government who has served as a marine in the Middle East, undertook extensive archival research and interviewed more than 300 American and Iranian government and military officers for this detailed narrative of diplomatic and military challenges since that time. His coverage ranges over numerous confrontations in the Persian Gulf, proxy skirmishes in Lebanon and other Arab countries, and tangled military interactions during the American occupation of Iraq. While accurate and balanced, Crist is critical of Iran's revolutionary support of anti-Americanism throughout the region and widespread encouragement of terrorist attacks on America and its allies. He portrays incompetence and arrogance among American military and civilian leaders and an inability and unwillingness to develop a realistic policy based on actual American interests and Iranian conditions. This is a long, complex book filled with details of military action and policy discussion, clear about ideological and personal in-fighting, and effective in portraying the individual actors. Crist is not optimistic about the outcomes and fears that hardened antagonisms heightened by Iranian nuclear research may yet lead to an actual war.