In the decade following the first Gulf War, most observers regarded it as an exemplary effort by the international community to lawfully and forcefully hold a regional aggressor in check. Interpretations have changed with the times. The Gulf War led to the stationing of US troops in Saudi Arabia, an important contributing cause of the 9/11 attacks. The war also led to a long obsession with Saddam Hussein that culminated in a second, far longer, American-led war with Iraq.In Into the Desert, historian Jeffrey Engel has gathered an all-star cast of contributors to reevaluate the first Gulf War: Michael Gordon of the New York Times; Sir Lawrence Freedman, former foreign policy advisor to Tony Blair; American Ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan Ryan Crocker; Middle East specialist Shibley Telhami; and Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations. Engel and his contributors examine the war's origins, the war itself, its impact within the Arab world, and its long-term impact on military affairs and international relations. All told, Into the Desert offers an astute reassessment of one of the most momentous events in the last quarter century.

Foreword: Ryan Crocker, Dean of the Bush School of Government at Texas A&M University; former United States Ambassador to Kuwait, Pakistan, Syria, Lebanon, and from 2007-2009, Iraq. Crocker; Director of the State Department's Iraq-Kuwait Task Force beginning in August of 1990.1. Introduction, Jeffrey Engel2. Much has Happened: America and the Gulf War(s), Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations; the National Security Council's Senior Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs during the Gulf War.3. Revisiting the Role of Arab Public Opinion in Desert Storm, Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat Professor of Peace and Development at the University of Maryland; a Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution4. The Unique War, Sir Lawrence Freedman, Professor of War Studies at King's College, London; Member of the 2009 United Kingdom Iraq War Inquiry.5.Of Doctrines, Dominos, 'Necessity', and 'Choice', Michael R. Gordon, Chief Military Correspondent for the New York Times, co-author (with General Bernard E. Trainor) of The Generals' War: The Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf and Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq.