Looking beneath the surface of strategy, policy, and daily operations, this book uses the analogy of weaving to review the United States' historical responsibility for maintaining international peace and security.

Author Charles Hill shows why the United States must marshal all possible elements in the Middle East, and supporters from without, to defeat the enemies of order in the region-and why the U.S. must weave an actively engaged, omnidirectional involvement to support and interact with whatever faction, regime, sect, leader, or state that seeks to gain legitimacy as a good citizen in the established international system.