American Diplomats: The Foreign Service at Work [Paperback]

Stuart Kennedy (Author), William Morgan (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 7, 2004

What do the men and women of America's diplomatic corps do? William D. Morgan and Charles Stuart Kennedy, themselves career diplomats, culled over 1400 oral interviews with their Foreign Service peers to present forty excerpts covering events from the 1920s to the 1990s. Insiders recount what happens when a consul spies on Nazi Germany, Mao Tse-Tung drops by for a chat, the Cold War begins with the Berlin blockade, the Marshall Plan rescues Europe, Sukarno moves Indonesia into the communist camp, Khrushchev calls President Kennedy an SOB, and our ambassador is murdered in Kabul. "You are there" accounts deepen readers' understanding, as diplomatic and consular officers talk about the beginnings of Kremlinology, predicting a coup in Ecuador, Hemingway and the embassy in Havana, the secret formulation of the NATO treaty, Jerusalem after the British and the US recognition of Israel, fighting in the Congo over Katangan secession, dealing with an alcoholic foreign president, human rights work in Paraguay, the U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran, the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, helping families of the Pan Am 103 victims, Greece and Turkey at odds over a tiny island, embassy roles in Riyadh and Tel Aviv during Desert Storm, and many more.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

L-R: Charles Stuart Kennedy, William Morgan. Mr. Kennedy is the founder and director of the Foreign Affairs Oral History Program at the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. Mr. Morgan served as U.S. consul general in Beirut, Paris, and Montreal. Both men are retired Foreign Service officers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (October 7, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595329748
• ISBN-13: 978-0595329748
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,438,070 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent first hand accounts of diplomatic work by Foreign Service Officers, July 18, 2009

By 

Salvador Hernandez (Glendale, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Diplomats: The Foreign Service at Work (Paperback)

I am currently going through the hiring process for the Foreign Service and purchased this book to gain an understanding of what types of responsibilities American diplomats take on abroad and at home.

American Diplomats provides first hand accounts of economic, political, managerial and diplomatic functions carried out by many Foreign Service Officers over the span of a hundred years. The accounts are professionally written but at the same time seem to provide very frank opinions - and even grievances - surrounding the challenges that diplomats face. Some examples include: meeting with the King of Saudi Arabia, challenges in maintaining the safety of staff in war torn Colombia, negotiating in a UN setting, getting held hostage in Iran after the revolution and trying to keep Israel from attacking Iraq during the first gulf war.

I very much enjoyed reading the narratives. One drawback to this book (when compared to others) is that most of the contributors were higher level / senior foreign service officers and the experiences they described were most likely not representative of the work and life of the average FSO. That's alright; there are several other books on Amazon that effectively depict the average FSO life. "Living with Uncle Sam," "Bush Hat Black Tie," "Realities of Foreign Service," "Inside A US Embassy" are all good books as well.