During his long reign (1953�1999), Hussein of Jordan was one of the most dominant figures in Middle Eastern politics and a consistent proponent of peace with Israel. Now we have the first major account of his life, written with access to his surviving papers and with the cooperation (but not approval) of his family and staff, as well as extensive interviews with international policy makers.For more than forty years, Hussein walked a tightrope between the Palestinians and Arab radicals and Israel. Avi Shlaim reveals that, for the sake of dynastic and national survival, Hussein initiated a secret dialogue with Israel in 1963 that would eventually encompass more than one thousand hours of conversation and negotiation with Golda Meir, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Shamir, and Yitzhak Rabin, among many others. Shlaim reconstructs this dialogue across battle lines from previously untapped Israeli records and the firsthand accounts of key participants, and makes clear that it was Israeli intransigence that was largely responsible for the failure to achieve a peaceful settlement between 1967 and 1994.At his memorial service, the Prince of Wales hailed King Hussein as �a man amongst men, a king amongst kings.� Lion of Jordan illuminates the triumphs and disappointments, the qualities and character of this extraordinary soldier and statesman, and significantly rewrites the history of the Middle East over the past fifty years.