The U.S. Foreign Service is sometimes derided, often underappreciated, occasionally praised, rarely examined, and almost never understood. And yet whether America's diplomacy succeeds or fails depends to a large extent on its Foreign Service professionals. "Career Diplomacy" is an insider's guide that examines the Foreign Service as an institution, a profession, and a career. Harry W. Kopp and Charles A. Gillespie, both of whom had long and distinguished careers in the Foreign Service, provide a full and well-rounded picture of the organization, its place in history, its strengths and weaknesses, and its role in American foreign affairs. Based on their own experiences and through interviews with over 85 current and former Foreign Service officials, the authors lay out what to expect in a Foreign Service career, from the entrance exam through midcareer and into the senior service - how to get in, get around, and get ahead. This book concludes with a stirring chapter on tomorrow's diplomats and the future of the Foreign Service as an institution. Readers will benefit from several appendices, which include a Department of State organization chart, core precepts of the Foreign Service, and internet resources. "Career Diplomacy" reveals what America's professional diplomats do and how they do it. It is a rare, first-hand look in to the life and work of this country's professional diplomats, who advance and protect U.S. national security interests around the globe.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
[Career Diplomacy] is the best description of life in the foreign service--its challenges, dangers, satisfactions, and fun--I have ever seen. It paints a superb picture of life abroad and at home, including both its good and bad aspects, and does a brilliant job of pointing out how our diplomacy must change if it is to meet the tremendous changes and challenges of the twenty-first century. --Lawrence S. Eagleburger, former Secretary of State
[Career Diplomacy] is the best description of life in the foreign service--its challenges, dangers, satisfactions, and fun--I have ever seen. It paints a superb picture of life abroad and at home, including both its good and bad aspects, and does a brilliant job of pointing out how our diplomacy must change if it is to meet the tremendous changes and challenges of the twenty-first century. --Lawrence S. Eagleburger, former Secretary of State
[Career Diplomacy] is the best description of life in the foreign service--its challenges, dangers, satisfactions, and fun--I have ever seen. It paints a superb picture of life abroad and at home, including both its good and bad aspects, and does a brilliant job of pointing out how our diplomacy must change if it is to meet the tremendous changes and challenges of the twenty-first century. --Lawrence S. Eagleburger, former Secretary of State
Review
Career Diplomacy is a fascinating and readable book about one of America's lesser known assets--the diplomatic service. As Ambassador, I recognized how critical these foreign service people are to America's place in the world. This tells that story. S
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More About the Author
Harry W. Kopp, author (with Tony Gillespie) of the book Career Diplomacy, is a former foreign service officer and consultant in international trade. Career Diplomacy, first published in 2008, is now in a revised and updated second edition, released in 2011. Former Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger, a career foreign service officer, called Career Diplomacy "the best description of life in the foreign service -- its challenges, dangers, satisfactions, and fun -- I have ever seen."
Kopp was deputy assistant secretary of state for international trade policy in the Carter and Reagan administrations. He represented the United States in multilateral trade negotiations and testified before Congress on foreign corrupt practices, East-West trade, export controls, antidumping regulations, and American competitiveness. He served abroad in Warsaw, where he directed the United States-Poland Trade Development Center, and Brasilia, Brazil, where he was deputy chief of mission. He received superior and meritorious honor awards from the Department of State and a presidential award for public service from President Ronald Reagan.
Kopp is president of Harry Kopp, LLC, and Venture Factors, Inc. (USA), a division of Zabaleta and Company, a Philippine corporation. He was a founding partner of L. A. Motley and Company, a director of the now defunct Old Dominion Brewing Company, and a vice president of the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington, D.C., research organization.
Kopp's books include Career Diplomacy, a best-selling guide to the U.S. Foreign Service (2008, 2011), and Commercial Diplomacy and the National Interest (2004). Kopp has also written for The New York Times and other publications. His first work of fiction, the short story "Trotsky in the Bronx," won the Goldenberg Prize and will appear in the Spring 2012 edition of the Bellevue Literary Review.
He is a graduate of Hamilton College and holds a master's degree from Yale. He lives with his wife Jane in Annapolis, Maryland. His websites are harrykopp.com and careerdiplomacy.com.
Kopp was deputy assistant secretary of state for international trade policy in the Carter and Reagan administrations. He represented the United States in multilateral trade negotiations and testified before Congress on foreign corrupt practices, East-West trade, export controls, antidumping regulations, and American competitiveness. He served abroad in Warsaw, where he directed the United States-Poland Trade Development Center, and Brasilia, Brazil, where he was deputy chief of mission. He received superior and meritorious honor awards from the Department of State and a presidential award for public service from President Ronald Reagan.
Kopp is president of Harry Kopp, LLC, and Venture Factors, Inc. (USA), a division of Zabaleta and Company, a Philippine corporation. He was a founding partner of L. A. Motley and Company, a director of the now defunct Old Dominion Brewing Company, and a vice president of the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington, D.C., research organization.
Kopp's books include Career Diplomacy, a best-selling guide to the U.S. Foreign Service (2008, 2011), and Commercial Diplomacy and the National Interest (2004). Kopp has also written for The New York Times and other publications. His first work of fiction, the short story "Trotsky in the Bronx," won the Goldenberg Prize and will appear in the Spring 2012 edition of the Bellevue Literary Review.
He is a graduate of Hamilton College and holds a master's degree from Yale. He lives with his wife Jane in Annapolis, Maryland. His websites are harrykopp.com and careerdiplomacy.com.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Foreign Service, Demystified,
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This review is from: Career Diplomacy: Life and Work in the U.S. Foreign Service (Paperback)
I've had many informal chats with current and retired FSOs and heard many VIPs from the State Department speak about their careers over the past four years (first in Peace Corps and then coordinating conferences on diplomacy and national security here in DC). If I were to put together all of the bits and pieces I've picked up about the interagency process and life as a diplomat along the way, it still wouldn't amount to what I learned reading this book.The book is very well written, with humor (perhaps the kind only past, current or future public servants will appreciate), concision and breadth that covers everything from the politics of the institution to the future of the career. It's also dead honest: it avoids creating any romantic notion of the foreign service and replaces it with a straightforward account upon which aspiring diplomats can set realistic expectations (or decide to pursue other careers). If you are considering a career in the foreign service (at the Department of State, USAID, Foreign Commercial Service or Foreign Agricultural Service), or if you are interested in demystifying the structure of the US foreign service, this is a book you must read.
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Indispensible look at the U.S. Foreign Service,
By
This review is from: Career Diplomacy: Life and Work in the U.S. Foreign Service (Paperback)
With all of the talk in the current political campaign about rebuilding America's diplomacy, it is critical that anyone interested in foreign affairs understand one of the essential tools of diplomacy: the men and women of the diplomatic service. This comprehensive but concise book is the best description of the work and life of the Foreign Service that I have read (and I have been in the FS nearly 30 years). It is an honest and unapologetic look at the strengths and weaknesses of the foreign service, crisply written, with voices from across the service. For anyone contemplating a career in diplomacy, this book should be your first stop. For everyone else, this book provides a clear and accessible view of a part of the federal government unfamiliar to most Americans.
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The past, present and future of the Foreign Service,
By
This review is from: Career Diplomacy: Life and Work in the U.S. Foreign Service (Paperback)
I first purchased Kopp and Gillespie's book as a citizen considering a career in the Foreign Service. Although it includes plenty of testimony from frontline diplomats making a heroic difference across the world, "Career Diplomacy" is more than a peek into the day to day of Foreign Service Officers (FSOs). It is part history of the service, part employee manual, and part crystal ball.Already familiar with the typical Fortune 500 career ladder, Kopp and Gillespie detailed for me how a career in the Foreign Service would proceed. Included is everything from how the promotion and tenure process works, to how country assignments are determined, even to the text of the oath every new FSO recites (for me, one of the more inspiring points). The authors also spend time on the future of the Foreign Service: its "transformational" path and the new skills that will be required of its newest diplomats. For a book about an organization in the midst of generational change it is strongest for its contemporary and forward looking detail. Most importantly for me though, and perhaps for others considering a career in the Foreign Service, "Career Diplomacy" has reminded me that the Foreign Service is more than just expatriate adventures in exotic faraway places. It is, at the end of the day, about serving your country. Something that I have long felt the call to do but have never been sure of where I would best fit. To that end, "Career Diplomacy" answered the right questions that have pushed my status from "considering" to "applying."
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foreign service agencies, ambassadorial authority, foreign service nationals, transformational diplomacy, foreign service work, foreign service positions, foreign service specialists, tandem couple, foreign service people, diplomacy officers, senior foreign service, foreign service life, foreign service employees, foreign service personnel, career candidates, consular work, regional security officer, foreign service career, foreign service exam, rated employee, oral assessment, economic officers Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
State Department, United States, Department of State, The Profession, White House, The Career, The Institution, Secretary Rice, Bureau of Human Resources, Middle East, Department of Defense, World War, Central Intelligence Agency, Main State, North Korea, Tomorrow's Diplomats, Henry Kissinger, National Security Council, Soviet Union, Capitol Hill, Defense Department, Sheikh Saoud, Dean Acheson, Dhi Qar, Richard Miles Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
foreign service agencies, ambassadorial authority, foreign service nationals, transformational diplomacy, foreign service work, foreign service positions, foreign service specialists, tandem couple, foreign service people, diplomacy officers, senior foreign service, foreign service life, foreign service employees, foreign service personnel, career candidates, consular work, regional security officer, foreign service career, foreign service exam, rated employee, oral assessment, economic officers Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
State Department, United States, Department of State, The Profession, White House, The Career, The Institution, Secretary Rice, Bureau of Human Resources, Middle East, Department of Defense, World War, Central Intelligence Agency, Main State, North Korea, Tomorrow's Diplomats, Henry Kissinger, National Security Council, Soviet Union, Capitol Hill, Defense Department, Sheikh Saoud, Dean Acheson, Dhi Qar, Richard Miles Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
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