Join us at the Kingston Library in the Community Room on Tuesday, May 17th, 2022 at 6:30 pm for an author’s talk. This talk is offered by the Library, the World Affairs Council of the Mid-Hudson Valley, and Bard College. Ambassador Fred C. Hof discusses his new book Reaching for the Heights: The Inside Story of a Secret Attempt to Reach a Syrian-Israeli Peace, an eye-opening insider’s account of secret negotiations to broker a Syria-Israel peace deal―negotiations that came tantalizingly close to success. Frederic C. Hof was the chief architect and mediator of the 2009–11 US initiative to broker peace between Israel and Syria. This mission was the culmination of Hof’s nearly three decades of public service, which began as a US Army officer in Vietnam and continued at the State Department. After a period in the private sector, he returned to the State Department, where, in 2012, he was awarded the rank of ambassador by President Obama. In 2018, after five years at the Atlantic Council, Hof was named the inaugural Diplomat-in-Residence at Bard College, where he resides with his wife, Brenda. Hof is the recipient of the Purple Heart and numerous other awards from the Department of Defense and the State Department.