Armin Meyer's distinguished career in public service spanned more than thirty tumultuous years of hot and cold war, beginning in World War II with a secret mission to Eritrea. In postwar Foreign Service, he served in Afghanistan, and his twenty-year involvement in the quest for Middle East peace included postings in Baghdad, Beirut, and in Washington, D.C. in the State Department's Near East Bureau, where he dealt with Nasserism, Hawk missiles, and Arab refugees. Meyer served as President Kennedy's ambassador to Beirut, assisting in Lebanon's first peaceful presidential transition; as...