Lion of Jordan: The Life of King Hussein in War and Peace

London: Allen Lane, 2007. M6 - A 2nd printing hardcover book SIGNED by Avi Shlaim with "With best wishes" written on the half-title page in very good condition in good dust jacket that is mylar protected. Dust jacket has wrinkling, chipping, crease, and some small tears, open tears and peeling on the edges and corners, some scattered light scratches, rubbing, scuffing and light stains, light tanning and shelf wear. Book lightly cocked, some bumped corners, wrinkling on the spine edges, a few scattered light stains on the page edges, light discoloration and shelf wear. 9.5"x6.25", 697 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. For most of his long reign (1953-1999), Hussein of Jordan was one of the most dominant figures in Middle Eastern politics, its most continuous presence of peace with Israel. This is the first major account of his life and reign, written with access to many of his surviving papers and with the cooperation (but not approval) of his family and staff. The author has also conducted extensive interviews with policy-makers of many different nationalities. For over forty years Hussein walked a tightrope between the Palestinians and the Arab radicals on the one hand and Israel on the other. Shlaim reveals that, for the sake of dynastic and national survival, Hussein initiated a secret dialogue with Israel in 1963 and spent (by his own estimate) over 1,000 hours in talks with Golda Meir, Shimon Peres, Itzhak Shamir, Itzhak Rabin and countless others Israeli officials. Shlaim reconstructs this dialogue across battle-lines from new Israeli records and first-hand accounts by many of key participants, demonstrating that Israeli intransigence was largely responsible for the failure to achieve a peaceful settlement of the conflict between 1967 and 1994. King Hussein had an extraordinary career as both soldier and statesman. He is so far the only non-Christian monarch to be commemorated by a memorial service in St. Paul's Cathedral; in his address, the Prince of Wales called him 'a man amongst men, a king amongst kings'. This biography, by one of Israel's leading 'new historians', shows the qualities and character of this titanic individual for the first time in book form, and significantly rewrites the history of the Middle East over the past fifty years.. Signed by Author. 2nd Printing. Hardcover. Very Good/Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.