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Six New Books Alerts for November 2015

November 2015

Our new format designed to replace our book reviews places more of the choice on you, the Reader. My colleagues and I at American Diplomacy will identify a variety of new books that we believe may interest you. We’ll provide … Continued

The Mind of the African Strongman

November 2015

Reviewed by Anthony Quainton Herman J Cohen, The Mind of the African Strongman: Conversations with Dictators, Statesmen, and Father Figures, New Academia Publishing/Vellum, 2015, ISBN-13: 978-098643530, 288 pp. $34.00 (Hardcover), $24.00 (Paperback) In the course of a forty-year career working … Continued

Midnight’s Furies

October 2015

Reviewed by Dr. Jon P. Dorschner Midnight’s Furies: The Deadly Legacy of India’s Partition by Nisid Hajari, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, New York, New York, 2015, ISBN 978-0-547-66921-2, 328 pp., $28.00 (Hardcover), $14.99 (Kindle). It is a well-documented historical … Continued

New Books Of Interest, October 2015

October 2015

This new format places more of the choice on you, the Reader. My colleagues and I at American Diplomacy have identified a variety of new books that we believe may interest you. We’ve provided basic information on the books and … Continued

New Books Of Interest, September 2015

September 2015

Our new format designed to replace our book reviews places more of the choice on you, the Reader. My colleagues and I at American Diplomacy will identify a variety of new books that we believe may interest you. We’ll provide … Continued

New Books Of Interest, June 2015

June 2015

Our new format designed to replace our book reviews places more of the choice on you, the Reader. My colleagues and I at American Diplomacy will identify a variety of new books that we believe may interest you. We’ll provide … Continued

Technology in Counterinsurgency Warfare

May 2015

Review by Dr. John M. Handley The Role and Limitations of Technology in US Counterinsurgency Warfare, by Richard Rubright, Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press (Potomac Books), 2015. ISBN 13: 978-1-61234-675-5, 328 pages (end-notes, references, and an index), $36.95. Richard … Continued

Cold War Modernist

May 2015

Review by Dr. John H. Brown Greg Barnhisel, Cold War Modernists: Art, Literature, and American Cultural Diplomacy, New York: Columbia University Press, 2015, ISBN: 978-0-231-16230-2, Hardcover, 336 pp., $40.00 The volume under review, by Duquesne University professor of English Greg … Continued

Uphill Battle

May 2015

Review by James T. Quinlivan Uphill Battle: Reflections on Viet Nam Counterinsurgency by Frank Scotton, Texas Tech University Press, ISBN-13: 9780896728677, 2014, 512 pp., $85.00 Hardcover, $28.81 Paperback, $38.49 Nook e-book. It is more than fifty years since Frank Scotton … Continued

The Accidental Prime Minister

April 2015

Review by Jon P. Dorschner The Accidental Prime Minister (The Making and Unmaking of Mohan Singh) by Sanjaya Baru, Viking Books: New York, 2014, ISBN 978-0-670086740, 287 pp., $28.88 (Hardcover), $12.72 (Kindle). This is my second book review covering the … Continued

Packing for India

March 2015

Review by Jon P. Dorschner Packing for India by David Mulford, Potomac Books: Dulles, Virginia, 2014, ISBN 978-I-61234-715-8, 338 pp., $29.95 (Hardcover), $21.08 (Kindle). I wanted to read and review this book because Ambassador Mulford and I served together in … Continued

The State Department Boys

March 2015

Review by Amb. (ret.) Edward Marks The State Department Boys: Philippine Diplomacy and Its American Heritage by Marciano R. de Borja, Vellum Press, 2014, ISBN-13: 978-0991504787, 388 pp., Hardcover $38.00. Paperback $22.75 The State Department Boys is actually three studies … Continued

Back Channel to Cuba

February 2015

Review by Joe B. Johnson Back Channel to Cuba by William M. LeoGrande and Peter Kornbluh, The University of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill, NC, ISBN-13: 978-1469617633, 2014, 544 pp., $19.24 (Kindle), $25.82 (Hardcover). The highest-level official meeting of American … Continued

American Ambassadors

February 2015

Review by Amb. (ret.) Brian E. Carlson American Ambassadors: The Past Present and Future of America’s Diplomats by Dennis C. Jett, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, ISBN-13: 978-1137395665, 300 pp. including appendices, $34.29 (Hardcover) When it comes to ambassadors, there are dueling … Continued

World Order

February 2015

Review by Amb. (ret.) Michael W. Cotter World Order, by Henry Kissinger, Penguin Press: New York, N.Y., 2014, ISBN-13: 978-1-59420-614-6, 374 pp. $21.60 (Hardcover), $18.99 (Kindle) A major challenge for writers explaining current events for general audiences is to provide … Continued

Confronting Political Islam

February 2015

Review by Amb. (ret.) Anthony Quainton Confronting Political Islam: Six Lessons from the West’s Past by John M. Owen IV, Princeton University Press: Princeton, NJ, 2014, ISBN: 978-0691163147, e-book ISBN: 978-1400852154, 232 pp., Hardcover $29.95, e-book available on Kindle and … Continued

Militarization of U.S. Foreign Policy?

February 2015

Review by Dr. John M. Handley, Vice President, American Diplomacy Publishers Mission Creep: The Militarization of US Foreign Policy? Edited by Gordon Adams and Shoon Murray, Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2014. ISBN 13: 978-1-62616-114-6, pp. 264 (end-notes plus references, … Continued

Visions of Freedom

January 2015

Review by Ambassador (ret.) Herman J. Cohen Visions of Freedom: Havana, Washington, Pretoria, and the Struggle for Southern Africa by Piero Gleijeses University of North Carolina Press, 2013, ISBN-13 978-1469609683, 672 pp., Hardcover $40.00, Amazon hardcover $32.00, Kindle $18.19. The … Continued

Ruling Russia: Authoritarianism from the Revolution to Putin

January 2015

Review by Dr. John H. Brown William Zimmerman, Ruling Russia: Authoritarianism from the Revolution to Putin, Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2014 ISBN: 978-0-691-16148-8 Hardcover, 329 pp., $29.95 William Zimmerman, professor emeritus of political science at the University of … Continued

Conservative Internationalism

January 2015

Review by James L. Abrahamson Conservative Internationalism: Armed Diplomacy under Jefferson, Polk, Truman, and Reagan by Henry R. Nau, Princeton University Press: Princeton and Oxford, 2013, ISBN 978-0-691-15931-7, xiii, 321 pp., $35.00 Hardcover, also available as an e-book. Dr. Henry … Continued