"Sardonic insights and a lovely pen." Fred Emery, former Executive Editor, The Times, London. "Precht's stories about an American diplomat in the Middle East provide important background about America's present role and challenges in that crucial geography." Burton Gerber, Veteran CIA Officer in Eastern Europe and the Middle East "This is not a striped-pants world. Instead, these [stories] illuminate a grittier side of embassy life with a wry sense of humor and a bit of an edge, not unlike the author himself." Gary Sick, Columbia University. Former advisor, National Security Council "Although these stories are fictional, their colors are drawn from real life. Henry Precht's sharp Georgia eyes have . . . captured in a unique way the flavor of the people and places of a part of the world where cynicism is the ruling philosophy. An intriguing read, with plenty of suspense." Richard Parker, former Ambassador to Lebanon, Algeria and Morocco "Henry Precht's well-paced stories open rare and revealing windows on the life of an American diplomat with a walk-on part in the Cold War in the Middle East. The emotional steeliness of the policy-making machine is fascinating, even as international one-upsmanship brushes aside and even kills those Middle Easterners who attempt to become more than pawns on a chessboard of great power conflicts-or of the career paths of US officials." Hugh Pope, Middle East Correspondent, The Wall Street Journal "Henry Precht writes with elegance, erudition, a subtle sense of humor [of the] Sisyphean struggle for dignity and democracy in the Middle East. He provides a gripping account of the contours and complexities of the US involvement in the region through the prism of someone 'present at creation.' A must read for any one interested in the Middle East, its tormented relations with the United States, and the byways of foreign policy in Washington." Abbas Milani, Imprisoned by the Shah, fired by Khomeini, Stanford University
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Alive with the intense sights and sounds of the Middle East, and with the culture of deception and betrayal ... -- The Washington Post, David Ignatius
An unorthodox view of life in the Foreign Service. This is not a striped-pants world. Instead, these amusing anecdotes ... -- Gary Sick, National Security Advisor for Presidents Ford, Carter, and Reagan
Sardonic insights and a lovely pen. -- The Times, London, Fred Emery
An unorthodox view of life in the Foreign Service. This is not a striped-pants world. Instead, these amusing anecdotes ... -- Gary Sick, National Security Advisor for Presidents Ford, Carter, and Reagan
Sardonic insights and a lovely pen. -- The Times, London, Fred Emery
From the Author
You list my book, "A Diplomat's Progress, Ten Tales of Diplomatic Adventure in and around the Middle East." But you do not list the correct author. I, Henry Precht,am the author and should be listed. Please make the correction and advise me. Henry Precht
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
The Camel's Nose,
This review is from: A Diplomat's Progress (Paperback)
There is an apology at the beginning of the book asking the reader to believe everything that follows is fiction, everything save the writer. Of course, a fictionalized memoir opens as many doors as it closes however the author remains the only authentic voice- thus scores are settled, history is seen aright, ambition is answered, in short everything glows in its true light only the author could blaze.
Precht certainly was in some interesting places during interesting times- but he comes off as a slightly unctuous observer, unsteady on the high ground, priggish on the low. He provides examples of both. In one "tale" he describes a trip taken through Afghanistan with another family. They leave from Tehran and drive the whole way. The other family's father works for CIA and conforms to the hoariest cliches in Precht's hands- Ivy League, anglophiliac, pompous even foppish, although having good Farsi. It turns out that Precht suspects the CIA man of using their family vacation as a means of travelling through tribal areas so he can pay off rug merchants and tribal leaders to overthrow the King's government. When asked, the man denies it, indeed ridicules the suggestion. Nonetheless, there are "rumors" given credence by a New Times reporter who asks Precht to smuggle his dispatch out of the country: which he does. ( It was never published.) Kabul requests that the american embassy expel the "paymaster", which by some bizarre twist, is thought to be Precht! He protests and points his finger- to no avail- and is told he must leave the country without explaining why to anyone. He drives home to Tehran in his BMW with his wife and children. Later, the government of the King falls to his cousin in a coup and it is soon determined that they are communists and not liberal tribal chieftains beloved of CIA paymasters. The coup was the begining of the doleful history of that country's path into civil war, lawlessness, chaos eventually leading to the Taliban with a stop as a russian satrapy along the way. In Precht's telling, he was the first victim of a CIA plot gone wrong! His vacation was cut short by his expulsion! And look what happened! A preposterous tale. Precht obviously could have written a book about his experiences which might have provided some insight into the politics of the times and places where he was posted. It would have been enough. Instead we are always asked to collude in a fiction in which only the writer seems blameless and whose motive seems to be that he was never given his due.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mr.,
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This review is from: A Diplomat's Progress (Paperback)
A very interesting study written by a prominent American diplomat who held the Iran desk during the most difficult times of the Islamic Revolution.
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