Only a handful of people could have written this book, and few could have written it as well as Joel Wit. Wit spent three decades working on U.S.–North Korean relations, first as a government official and then as a lead participant in scholarly and semiofficial dialogues. He draws on his unique first-hand experience and over 300 interviews to craft a riveting, blow-by-blow account of the fierce internal battles, bureaucratic stove-piping, paralysis, and missed opportunities that have