Bush Hat, Black Tie: Adventures of a Foreign Service Officer [Hardcover]

Howard R. Simpson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1999

Bush Hat, Black Tie is a novelist's wry, firsthand look at life as an American diplomat. Howard R. Simpson takes the reader on his own challenging assignments in wartime French Indochina, Nigeria, France, wartime South Vietnam, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Algeria, and the United States, as he witnesses the end of the colonial era and serves in the diplomatic front lines of the Cold War. Thoroughly dispelling the stuffy, "striped pants" image of diplomacy, he reveals the often strange, always interesting realities of representing one's country overseas, whether while wearing a bush hat in the battlefields of Indochina or a tuxedo at the Cannes Film Festival. The colorful personalities he encounters along the way range from Dwight Eisenhower and Charles de Gaulle to Alfred Hitchcock and Henry Miller.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The late Howard R. Simpson was the author of eight other well-received novels. He also wrote several nonfiction books, including Someone Else's War and Dien Bien Phu

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Potomac Books Inc.; 1st edition (January 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157488154X
• ISBN-13: 978-1574881547
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,641,562 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for those who want public diplomacy career track, January 15, 2003

By 

briaryos "briaryos" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bush Hat, Black Tie: Adventures of a Foreign Service Officer (Hardcover)

I bought this book with the hope that it would give me some insight on how to answer the hypothetical questions of the State Department's Foreign Service Oral exam that I have coming up. On the down side, he spent little time discussing his early career, and since I'm going for the Managerial track (his was, I guess, sort of like public diplomacy)it was the gold mine I had hoped for.

However, he gave great insight into what real life is like at a hardship post, and his mid- and late- career experiences were invaluable. His experiences show just how important interpersonal relationships are in the foreign service, which contrasted my view that it is all book knowledge and sterile, rely-purely-on-yourself stuff.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars " It just happened ", June 5, 2005

By 

M. B. Alcat "Curiosity killed the cat, but sa... (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bush Hat, Black Tie: Adventures of a Foreign Service Officer (Hardcover)

"Although the passing of time often tends to blur specific memories and dates, the events in this book are factual and, I trust, untainted by political correctness". The person who wrote this in the preface to "Bush Hat, Black Tie: Adventures of a Foreign Service Officer" is the author of the book himself, Howard R. Simpson (1925-1999).

The author is a person I would have like to know, because he led a very interesting life, seemed to possess a good sense of humour, and managed not to take himself too seriously while being extremely professional about his job, being a diplomat. Simpson didn't plan to be a diplomat, "it just happened". Before that, he participated in the Second World War, studied art in Paris, and became a journalist. He could have been many things, but he ended up being a diplomat, although a rather peculiar one.

The beginning of Simpson's career can be traced to 1951, when he joined the Foreign Service as an information specialist. Simpson would be posted to French Indochina, Nigeria, France, South Vietnam, Australia and Algeria. He would also work in the United States, specifically in Washington and as a professor in the U.S. Naval War College. This book includes interesting photographs that show the author in some of those places, and that emphasize the fact that in his career he wore a bush hat at least as frequently as a black tie. My favorite photograph is probably one that shows the author in Hanoi, in 1954, when he was posing as a Polish journalist in order to escape unharmed from the communist occupied city.

In this book, Simpon shares with the reader some of the experiences he had in the somewhat strange life that some diplomats live. He does that in an engaging way, peppering serious observation regarding policy matters with funny anecdotes. A good example of that can be found in the chapter "Fire ant fandango", where he talks about the last stages of decolonization in Nigeria, but also tells us what happens when African fire ants are surprise visitors to a reception.

It is easy to see in every page of this book that Simpson loved his career, even though he wasn't much of a fan of paperwork. In his words, "I believe most Foreign Service veterans would agree that few other professions offer such a variety of interesting, adventurous, and -at times- dangerous assignments. My only advice to those now entering the ranks would be: beware of creeping bureacracy, don't take yourself too seriously, and enjoy your new career".

On the whole, I highly recommend "Bush Hat, Black Tie: Adventures of a Foreign Service Officer". It doesn't matter if you are just a reader looking to be entertained, or a person who is seriously considering joining the Foreign Service. I'm pretty sure that both kinds of reader will find what they are looking for in this book.

Belen Alcat

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Inspiration, September 13, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Bush Hat, Black Tie: Adventures of a Foreign Service Officer (Hardcover)

For any considering the Foriegn Service, like me. You'll find out that it has it's share of bureaucratic drudgery...but all in all it's an exciting, vey adventurous job. Mr. Simpson's writing is very easy going and entertaining, and if you weren't careful you'd probably think you were reading a book on a backpacker's travels through various hotspots of the Cold War. Except this backpacker represents the US Gov't, and gets paid to do so.