In thirteen captivating chapters, Pulitzer Prize winner Lawrence Wright recounts one of the high points of diplomacy. It was not easy for the three great leaders: at times they shouted at each other, and at other times they simply wanted to leave. Yet they stayed: Menachem Begin, the Orthodox Jew whose parents perished in the Holocaust; Anwar el Sadat, the devout Muslim; and Jimmy Carter, who knew the Bible by heart. On September 17, 1978, they signed the peace plan. But what led these lifelong enemies to ultimately trust each other? Wright, who gained access for the first time to secret CIA sources and files of the U.S. President, sensitively narrates how fragile the negotiations were at the beginning and how the political acumen and personal biographies of these three extraordinary individuals were able to provide stability and a future for this peace—up to the present day.