Thirteen Days in September: The Dramatic Story of the Struggle for Peace in the Middle East

(Paperback)

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A gripping day-by-day 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 the thirteen days of the Camp David conference, illuminating the issues that have made the problems of the region so intractable, as well as exploring the scriptural narratives that continue to frame the conflict. In addition to his in-depth accounts of the lives of the three leaders, Wright draws vivid portraits of other fiery personalities who were present at Camp David including Moshe Dayan, Osama El Baz, and Zbigniew Brzezinski as they worked furiously behind the scenes. What emerges is a riveting view of the making of this unexpected and so far unprecedented peace treaty. Wright exhibits the full extent of Carter's persistence in pushing an agreement forward, the extraordinary way in which the participants at the conference many of them lifelong enemies attained it, and the profound difficulties inherent in the process and its outcome

Reviews

Wonderfully readable

-- Martin Amis, FT, books of the year

Reminds us why Camp David is so important The story has a tragedy of ambivalence, and is not easy to tell Wright finds the drama in all the frustrations, and brings the unlucky 13 days to life

* Daily Telegraph *

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.

-- New York Times Book Review

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.

-- Entertainment Weekly

Exceedingly balanced, highly readable, and appropriately sober.

-- Los Angeles Times

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.

-- Vulture.com

The best part ofThirteen Days in September edging out even its breakneck pace and utterly confident narrative style is Wrights almost Plutarchian skill at character sketches.

-- Open Letters Monthly Literature Review

Fascinating personal and historic detail.

-- Christian Science Monitor

A splendid and suspenseful account of the Camp David negotiations.

-- Minneapolis Star/Tribune

An engrossing chronicle of Carters 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.

-- Boston Globe

Spellbinding ... A cliffhanger ... What makes the story a page-turner isnt the day-by-day details of the negotiations. Its Wrights seamless, compelling backgrounding of the regions 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.

-- Chicago Tribune

A psychologically astute and lively history of the ArabIsraeli conflict told through the lens of the negotiations that brought one of its most bitter and bloody chapters to an end.

-- 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.

-- Cleveland Plain Dealer

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.

* Economist *

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 Review

Meticulously researched ... almost nail-bitingly tense ... an authoritative, fascinating, and relatively unbiased exploration of a pivotal period and a complicated subject.

-- Publishers Weekly

Author Bio

Lawrence Wright is a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of six previous books of nonfiction, including In the New World, Remembering Satan, The Looming Tower, Going Clear, and one novel, God's Favorite. His books have received many prizes and honors, including a Pulitzer Prize for The Looming Tower. He is also a playwright and screenwriter. He and his wife are longtime residents of Austin, Texas. www.lawrencewright.com