Patrick E. Tyler is an author and formerly chief correspondent for the New York Times. He is the author of three books: A World of Trouble: The White House and the Middle East from the Cold War to the War on Terror, A Great Wall: Six Presidents and China, a history of U.S.-China relations since the 1972 opening by President Richard Nixon, and Running Critical - The Silent War, Rickover and General Dynamics, a history of the U.S. nuclear submarine program under Admiral Hyman G. Rickover.