Steven A. Cook is Eni Enri­co Mat­tei senior fel­low for Mid­dle East and Africa stud­ies at the Coun­cil on For­eign Rela­tions. He is an expert on Mid­dle East pol­i­tics and U.S. pol­i­cy toward the region. Cook is the author of four books, most recent­ly The End of Ambi­tion: America’s Past, Present, and Future in the Mid­dle East.