Daniel E. Zoughbie's book, Kicking the Hornet's Nest: U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East from Truman to Trump, revisits the longstanding debate over America's role in the region, focusing on the consequences of recognizing Israel. The review highlights how, in the decades following the Six-Day War, Western institutions and thinkers often blamed Israel for Middle Eastern instability, a view that gradually lost traction as other regional conflicts and the rise of Islamic militancy took center stage.

Zoughbie's revisionist approach is critiqued for reanimating outdated conventional wisdom, presenting America's support for Israel as the root of ongoing turmoil, while largely sidelining the agency and complexities of Middle Eastern societies themselves. The book is described as polemical and heavily reliant on elite perspectives, with digressions that sometimes detract from its central arguments.

Ultimately, the reviewer finds Zoughbie's analysis lacking in nuance and depth regarding the region's peoples and religious dynamics, but notes his concluding recommendations for strategic planning and health initiatives. Despite its shortcomings, the book stands as a provocative, if controversial, addition to the discourse on American foreign policy in the Middle East.