The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for Its Renewal
The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for Its Renewal book cover

The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for Its Renewal

Hardcover – March 12, 2019

by
Price
$5.60
Format
Hardcover
Pages
512
Publisher
Random House
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0525508861
Dimensions
6.3 x 2 x 9.5 inches
Weight
1.75 pounds

Description

Review “Bill Burns is simply one of the finest U.S. diplomats of the last half century. The Back Channel demonstrates his rare and precious combination of strategic insight and policy action. It is full of riveting historical detail but also, more important, shrewd insights into how we can advance our interests and values in a world where U.S. leadership remains the linchpin of international order.” —James A. Baker III “Bill Burns is a stellar exemplar of the grand tradition of wise Americans who made our country the indispensable nation in this world. The Back Channel shows how diplomacy works, why it matters, and why its recent demise is so tragic.” —Walter Isaacson, author of Leonardo da Vinci “Bill Burns is a treasure of American diplomacy and a model of the American idea and spirit when we need it most. In The Back Channel, Burns provides another great act of public service by giving us a smart, plainspoken account of America’s changing role in the world and the power and purpose of American diplomacy at its best.” —Hillary Clinton “From one of America’s consummate diplomats, The Back Channel is an incisive and sorely needed case for the revitalization of diplomacy—what Burns wisely describes as our ‘tool of first resort.’” —Henry Kissinger “ The Back Channel is a masterfully written memoir from one of America’s most accomplished and respected diplomats. Burns not only offers a vivid account of how American diplomacy works, he also puts forward a compelling vision for its future that will surely inspire new generations to follow his incredible example.” —Madeleine K. Albright “Told with humor and humility, The Back Channel brings all the behind-the-scenes efforts into the light, and brings readers into the room to share the journey of a talented, tough-minded diplomat par excellence who served as conduit and catalyst in making America stronger.” —John Kerry “ The Back Channel deserves to be widely read—it’s a great book filled with fascinating stories and the kind of wisdom that is sorely needed these days.” —George P. Shultz “Bill Burns, one of the most respected diplomats of the post–Cold War years, has now written what I regard as the best diplomatic memoir of that period—must reading for anyone looking back on an era that’s now ending, and for any young person looking forward to diplomacy as a profession in whatever era is likely to come.” —John Lewis Gaddis, Robert A. Lovett Professor of Military and Naval History, Yale University “An engaging tale of modern statecraft full of fascinating eyewitness accounts of several important events in modern international history . . . Burns’s compelling, fast-paced, and witty narrative is necessary reading for America’s next generation of diplomats.” —Condoleezza Rice About the Author William J. Burns is president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 2014 after a thirty-three-year diplomatic career. He holds the highest rank in the Foreign Service, career ambassador, and is only the second serving career diplomat in history to become deputy secretary of state. Prior to his tenure as deputy secretary, Ambassador Burns served from 2008 to 2011 as undersecretary for political affairs. He was ambassador to Russia from 2005 to 2008, assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs from 2001 to 2005, and ambassador to Jordan from 1998 to 2001. Ambassador Burns earned a bachelor’s degree in history from La Salle University and master’s and doctoral degrees in international relations from Oxford University, where he studied as a Marshall Scholar. He and his wife, Lisa, have two daughters. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. 1Apprenticeship: The Education of a DiplomatMy first diplomatic mission was an utter failure. The most junior officer in our embassy in Jordan in 1983, I eagerly volunteered for what at the time seemed like a straightforward assignment: to drive a supply truck from Amman to Baghdad. It all seemed to me like an excellent adventure, a chance to see the thinly populated, rock-strewn desert of eastern Jordan, and visit Iraq, then in the midst of a brutal war with Iran.The senior administrative officer at Embassy Amman was a grizzled veteran renowned for his ability to get things done, if not for his willingness to explain exactly how he accomplished them. He assured me the skids had been greased at the Iraqi border: Getting across would be no problem. The seven-hour drive to the border went uneventfully. Then, at the little Iraqi town of Rutba, adventure met Saddam Hussein–era reality. The skids, it turned out, had not been greased. An unamused security official rejected my paperwork and ordered me to remain in the truck while he consulted with his superiors in Baghdad.I spent a cold, sleepless night in the cab of the truck, incapable (in that pre-cellphone age) of communicating my predicament to my colleagues in Amman or Baghdad, and increasingly worried that my diplomatic career would not survive its first year. At first light, an Iraqi officer informed me that I’d be proceeding to Baghdad under police escort. He allowed me one brief phone call from the local post office to the on-duty Marine security guard at Embassy Amman. I explained what had happened, and he was able to convey to my colleagues in Baghdad the circumstances of my delay.With a dour policeman who introduced himself as Abu Ahmed beside me, I began the long drive through many of the dusty towns of Anbar Province that America’s Iraq wars would make all too well known—Ramadi, Fallujah, Abu Ghraib. My travel partner had an unnerving habit of idly spinning the chamber on his revolver as we drove along the rutted highway. At one point he pulled out a popular regional tabloid with the cast of Charlie’s Angels on the cover. “Do all American women look like this?” he asked.As the late afternoon sun was beginning to fade, we stopped for gas and tea at a ramshackle rest stop run by two of his brothers, just outside Fallujah, his hometown. As we sipped our tea, sitting on wobbly plastic chairs, Abu Ahmed’s nieces and nephews appeared to see the exotic American. I’ve always wondered what happened to them over the tumultuous decades that followed.Abu Ahmed and I, weary and running out of things to talk about, finally arrived at a large police compound on the northwestern outskirts of Baghdad in early evening. I was relieved to see an American colleague waiting for me; I was less relieved to learn that the Iraqis refused to accept our customs documents and insisted on confiscating the truck and its cargo. There was nothing particularly sensitive in the truck, but losing a dozen computers, portable phones, and other office and communication equipment was an expensive proposition for a State Department always strapped for resources. We protested, but got nowhere.My colleague made clear that he’d take this up with the Foreign Ministry, which elicited barely a shrug from the police. Now separated from the truck and released by the police, I went back to our modest diplomatic facility and told my story over a few beers. The next day, I flew back to Amman. As far as I know, neither our truck nor our equipment was ever returned.***A life in diplomacy seems more natural in retrospect than it did when I was stumbling along from Amman to Baghdad all those years ago, learning my first lesson in professional humility. But public service was already in my blood. I grew up as an Army brat, the product of an itinerant military childhood that took my family from one end of the United States to the other, with a dozen moves and three high schools by the time I was seventeen.My father and namesake, William F. Burns, fought in Vietnam in the 1960s and eventually became a two-star general and the director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. He was an exemplary leader, thoughtful and exacting, someone whose high standards and model of public service I always wanted to approach. “Nothing can make you prouder,” he once wrote to me, “than serving your country with honor.” His was a generation accustomed to taking American leadership in the world seriously; he knew firsthand the dangers of ill-considered military conflicts, and what diplomacy could achieve in high-stakes negotiations. My mother, Peggy, was the devoted heart of our family. Her love and selflessness made all those cross-country moves manageable, and held us all together. Like my dad, she grew up in Philadelphia. They met in the chaste confines of a Catholic high school dance—with nuns wielding rulers to enforce “six inches for the Holy Spirit” between them—and built a happy life shaped by faith, family, and hard work.Making our close-knit Irish Catholic family whole were my three brothers: Jack, Bob, and Mark. As in many Army families, constantly bouncing from post to post, we became our own best friends. We shared a love of sports across seasons and places, and looked out for one another on all those first days in new schools.My upbringing bore little resemblance to the caricature of the cosmopolitan, blue-blooded foreign service officer. Through the years, however, a few useful diplomatic qualities began to emerge in faint outline. Because we moved so often, I became adaptable, constantly (and sometimes painfully) adjusting to new environments. I grew curious about new places and people, increasingly accustomed to trying to put myself in their shoes and understand their perspectives and predispositions. I developed a detachment about people and events, an ability to stand back and observe and empathize, but also a reluctance—born of many departures—to get too close or too invested. I also came to know my own country well, with a feel for its physical expanse and beauty, as well as its diversity and bustling possibility. I grew up with not only an abiding respect for the American military and the rhythms of Army life, but a vaguely formed interest of my own in public service.In 1973, I went to La Salle College on an academic scholarship, my dreams of a basketball scholarship long since surrendered to the hard realities of limited talent. A small liberal arts school run by the Christian Brothers in a rough neighborhood in North Philadelphia, La Salle offered a valuable education inside and outside the classroom. It was then a school with lots of first-generation college students, mostly commuters, who worked hard to earn their tuition, took nothing for granted, and prided themselves on puncturing pretension. La Salle, like Philadelphia in the 1970s, was not for the faint of heart. Read more

Features & Highlights

  • “Bill Burns is a treasure of American diplomacy.”—Hillary Clinton
  • “
  • The Back Channel
  • shows how diplomacy works, why it matters, and why its recent demise is so tragic.”—Walter Isaacson, author of
  • Leonardo da Vinci
  • Over the course of more than three decades as an American diplomat, William J. Burns played a central role in the most consequential diplomatic episodes of his time—from the bloodless end of the Cold War to the collapse of post–Cold War relations with Putin’s Russia, from post–9/11 tumult in the Middle East to the secret nuclear talks with Iran.In
  • The Back Channel,
  • Burns recounts, with novelistic detail and incisive analysis, some of the seminal moments of his career. Drawing on a trove of newly declassified cables and memos, he gives readers a rare inside look at American diplomacy in action. His dispatches from war-torn Chechnya and Qaddafi’s bizarre camp in the Libyan desert and his warnings of the “Perfect Storm” that would be unleashed by the Iraq War will reshape our understanding of history—and inform the policy debates of the future. Burns sketches the contours of effective American leadership in a world that resembles neither the zero-sum Cold War contest of his early years as a diplomat nor the “unipolar moment” of American primacy that followed.Ultimately,
  • The Back Channel
  • is an eloquent, deeply informed, and timely story of a life spent in service of American interests abroad. It is also a powerful reminder, in a time of great turmoil, of the enduring importance of diplomacy.
  • Advance praise for
  • The Back Channel
  • “Bill Burns is simply one of the finest U.S. diplomats of the last half century.
  • The Back Channel
  • demonstrates his rare and precious combination of strategic insight and policy action. It is full of riveting historical detail but also, more important, shrewd insights into how we can advance our interests and values in a world where U.S. leadership remains the linchpin of international order.”
  • —James A. Baker III
  • “From one of America’s consummate diplomats,
  • The Back Channel
  • is an incisive and sorely needed case for the revitalization of diplomacy—what Burns wisely describes as our ‘tool of first resort.’”
  • —Henry Kissinger
  • “Burns not only offers a vivid account of how American diplomacy works, he also puts forward a compelling vision for its future that will surely inspire new generations to follow his incredible example.”
  • —Madeleine K. Albright

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

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Most Helpful Reviews

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A powerful defense of foreign diplomacy and its effects

The back channel is a first person accounting by Burns, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia and career Foreign Service officer of the highs and lows of American foreign policy and diplomacy in recent decades. In short, it provides a strong defense of American diplomacy and the need for negotiation in a non–zero-sum world. The stories are fascinating, delving into issues relating to numerous foreign powers, and particularly Russia.

In all, it provides a great insight, and a valuable lesson, regarding the importance of foreign diplomacy in an ever more interconnected world.
36 people found this helpful
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An Amazing Inside View of 30+ years of U.S. Foreign Policy and Diplomacy!

Throughout the “The Back Channel” Author William J. Burns gives the reader an incredible front row seat to the last thirty plus years of American diplomacy (or sometimes the lack of diplomacy!) Through the author’s respectful and thought-provoking critique of the past 5 presidential administrations we are able to see where our foreign policy has served us well and where it has failed. The author does an amazing job of sifting through his years of service focusing on critical events and policies that give context to not only where we have been and where we are, but even more importantly what the future could be! While politically there were policies I opposed, I closed the book with an incredible respect and appreciation for the hard work, intelligence, and agility that goes into achieving a coherent and credible foreign policy. I couldn’t help but think how lucky our country had been to have the service of William Burns. And despite the incredibly challenging times before us, after reading “The Back Channel”, I am left with the belief that there will be others following William Burns that are ready to dedicate themselves to developing and implementing a coherent foreign policy/diplomacy that recognizes our values, respects the values of others and can still give hope to the world. And even more importantly upon finishing the book, I am left knowing that while changes may be necessary to reflect the dynamics of a new world, it is critical that the work of diplomacy not only continue but be made a priority for our country! I was honored to receive a free advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and the Publisher, Random House in exchange for an honest review.
35 people found this helpful
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The finest diplomatic memoir I have ever read

This is the best diplomatic memoir I have ever read. Informed, illuminating day-to-day events with amazing candor, including remarkably honest recognition of what the author (Burns) felt to be personal mistakes as well as those carried out by the State Department.

There were many confirmatory revelations for me.

The poorly considered and destructive impact of the expansion of NATO, the “killer” being the suggested expansion of the EU and likely then NATO to the Ukraine and Georgia. Putin and Russian’s of all stripes made it clear that this was a red line that could not be crossed.

Burns was in Moscow in 1995. He writes that Talbot as well as Secretary of Defense Bill Perry worried that starting down the road to form an enlargement of NATO would undermine hopes for a more enduring partnership with Russia undercutting reformers who would see it as a vote of no confidence in their efforts, a hedge against the likely failure of reform. “We shared similar concerns at Embassy Moscow. The challenge for us,” Burns wrote, in fall 1995, “is to look past the parent government of Russia’s often irritating rhetoric and the erratic and reactive diplomacy to our own long-term self interest. That demands, in particular, that we continue to seek to build a secure order in Europe sufficiently in Russia’s interests so that a revived Russia will have no compelling reason to revise it—and so that in the meantime the ‘stab in the back’ theorists will have only limited room for maneuver in Russian politics.” Sadly, we did not follow this advice.

For a time, we pursued the “Partnership for Peace,” a kind of NATO halfway house, but we did not pursue it aggressively, nor did Russia.

Putin’s increasing inclination to see a plot against him and Russia from almost every event, including protests about his decision to continue as president, is made abundantly clear.

Burns rightly describes Putin’s (and many Russians) intent as he writes “often as preoccupied with their sense of exceptionalism as Americans were, they sought a distinctive political and economic system, which would safeguard the individual freedoms and economic possibilities denied them under Communism, and ensure them a place among the handful of world powers.”

Burns continues with these personal words that I would echo: “I like Russians, respected their culture, enjoy their language and was endlessly fascinated by the tangled history of U.S.-Russian diplomacy.”

The history of our invidious inclination to pursue regime change is honestly described. Starting with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and Iraq which Burns and most of the State Department vigorously opposed, including the war that precipitated it. He sadly writes: “Having lost the argument to avoid war, we had two main goals in shaping it and managing the inevitable risks.” They were going about “choosing between a smart way and a dumb way of bringing it (the regime change) about.” The Pentagon had taken over leadership from the State Department, together with Vice President Cheney.

The regime change went on in Libya with the overthrow of Kaddafi, not intended, but likely inevitable with the actions we took. A slippery slope it turned out to be.

Then we went on, through phone calls from Obama, telling Mubarak to step down in Egypt.

Elsewhere, Burns writes about his growing recognition of “the quality and increasing self-confidence of Chinese diplomacy.” That does not surprise me. It is exactly how I felt about Chinese leadership in the government and in business.

Burns tells the story of the negotiations which led to the anti-nuclear proliferation treaty with Iran in great detail. It was an extraordinary journey. Not perfect in the outcome, as Burns described it. They should have pushed for a longer period. But the best that could be obtained. This saga makes me doubly sorry that Trump had pulled out of it. What a hit to our credibility.

Burns is brutally honest in his assessment of how he sees the state department needing to change in the future. He confesses to its being too “cautious, reactive and detached,” too bureaucratic, not effectively tied to the Hill, not adequately conveying the importance of diplomacy to the American public through illumination of the specific accomplishments it has enabled.

He advocates greater “candor and transparency (in describing)” the purpose and limits of American engagement abroad. “It is more effective to level with the American people about the challenges we face and the choices we make than to wrap them in the tattered robe of untampered exceptionalism or fan fears of external threats. Over promising and under delivery is the surest way to undermine the case for American diplomacy.”

Or anything else for that matter.

He advocates the importance of aligning our policies with “ensuring that the American middle class is positioned as well as possible for success in a hyper competitive world, that we build open and equitable trading systems, and that we don’t shy away from holding to account those who do not play by the rules of the game.”

I applaud his summation of our relationship with Russia. “A more durable 21st century European security architecture has alluded us in nearly three decades of fitful attempts to engage post-Cold War Russia that is not likely to change any time soon—certainly not during Putin’s tenure. Ours should be a long game strategy, not giving into Putin’s aggressive score settling, but not giving up on the possibility of an eventual mellowing of relations beyond him, nor can we afford to ignore the need for guardrails in managing an often adversarial relationship—sustaining communication between our militaries and our diplomats, and preserving what we can of a collapsing arms control architecture.”

I believe very much in what he wrote next. “Over time, Russia’s stake in healthy relations with Europe and Americana may grow, as a slow-motion collision with China and Central Asia looms.”

Burns’ book shares a lot of sad tales. Beyond those I have already mentioned, there is the dispirited description of the efforts to bring the Palestinians and Israelis together. Once again, Burns and most of the state department saw our policies which favored Israel and demoted the interests of Palestine as making the creation of a two-state solution unlikely to impossible. And it has proved that. More so today than ever with Netanyahu having achieved a fourth term.

Here is a question which looms large to me in reading this memoir which Burns touches on but does not address directly: why were the State Department and its leaders unable to play a stronger role in making happen what they thought should happen.

To be sure, the outcomes were not totally bleak. While it has been unwound by the U.S, (but not the other signatories), the Iranian treaty was a diplomatic victory. So was the Paris Climate Treaty and, while he doesn’t talk about it at length, I’d imagine the Trans-Pacific Partnership was another. Tragically, all three of these accomplishments have been dismissed by the Trump administration. However, on other truly crucial events, the invasion of Iraq, the expansion of NATO with its impact on U.S.-Russia relations, Libya (though the state department as split on this), and Egypt, the beliefs of our most trained, experienced diplomats failed to carry the day.

One thing for sure. This argues for an extraordinarily strong Secretary of State. We had that in Jim Baker.

And that Secretary of State has to be respected by and aligned with the President. Again, we had that with Jim Baker and George H.W. Bush
25 people found this helpful
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Absolutely first rate

I could not recommend this book more highly. When I was the Air Force planner, I got to know Bill Burns's father--a distinguished public servant. His son follows in his footsteps. As America faces an uncertain future, Bill Burns's book should be the guidebook, especially for those who live in the world of diplomacy. I have just placed it on my short list of recommended books for executives.
11 people found this helpful
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Eloquent insight into recent world history and the nature of diplomacy

Bill Burns, who a few years ago completed a career as one of America's most accomplished diplomats of the last half century, ending as Deputy Secretary of State, has written a beautifully eloquent book which is part memoir, part recent history, and perhaps most importantly, a lesson in the nature of diplomacy--its promise and its limits The book is worth reading not only by Americans interested in foreign affairs, but by all our citizens, given that international affairs and the solution (or not) of global problems now beyond sole US control will profoundly affect the future of our country and citizens in the 21st century.

Full disclosure: I'm a retired Foreign Service Officer, like Burns. I brushed shoulders with him very briefly a couple times (though never remotely reached his rank) and found him an eminently decent and honest man...which also comes through in the book, as he is not reluctant to critique either himself or US foreign policy in retrospect for mistakes. The trouble (and exculpation) is that rarely do policymakers have complete knowledge or clear choices, they face competing goals and tight time pressures, so the decision process (like most human affairs) is imperfect. Burns is not loathe to admit it.

The book has three main components:

-- A first-person account of his career, focusing on key episodes of recent history, e.g. US/Russian relations during the Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Putin eras; America's response to the "Arab Spring" revolts and the Syrian civil war; secret US/Iran nuclear negotiations (whence the book's "Back Channel" title comes); etc. Burns was involved in all of them, and moved up rapidly in the diplomatic hierarchy... a career where he was time and again at the right place at the right time as a witness to history.

-- An analysis of America's changing place in the world--no longer the world "hyperpower" as we briefly were immediately after the USSR's collapse,, but still a "pivotal" power better positioned than any other state to leverage our alliances and leadership to "make positive things happen" in the 21st century, if only we will give greater emphasis to diplomacy rather than the over-reliance on military power/intervention characteristic of the post-9/11 era.

-- A description of how diplomacy works and what one can or cannot expect of it: it works often in the shadows, seeking incremental improvements (or to avoid international disasters) and it can bring immense benefits, but never the spectacle of military victory (which itself may prove to be a Pandora's box, e.g. Iraq 2013). It thus tends to be unknown and unappreciated by the American public, and that is unfortunate because since the US is no longer alone as a major power, we will be more and more dependent on diplomacy and alliance-building, not military force, to advance our goals.

In sum, this is a timely and beautifully written book, an engaging historical account seen through the eyes of an engaging author (with an occasional dry wit), and an insightful strategic overview of the current international scene and what the US (and our diplomatic service) must do to succeed there in the decades ahead.
10 people found this helpful
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A Very Diplomatic History

"The Back Channel" is Bill Burns' engaging memoir of his career at the State Department. He joined in 1982, and quickly came to the attention of powerful mentors, who launched him on a meteoric rise through the ranks. By the time of his retirement in 2014, he was the Deputy Secretary; along the way, he had been ambassador in Jordan and Russia, the head of the Near Eastern affairs bureau during the Iraq war, and the Undersecretary for Political Affairs; he also led negotiations to reopen ties with Libya and to halt Iran's nuclear program. He was trusted by Presidents and Secretaries of State of both parties. He's proof that nice guys don't always finish last.

His book is well-written, colorful, and wise. Burns regards hubris as the particular vice of modern American foreign policy: Washington, in his view, is too quick to use military force and too eager to believe that it can control events in other countries. He makes a strong case for diplomacy as the best means of advancing U.S. interests in a world in which America is no longer hegemonic. Foreign policy professionals, students of international affairs, and history buffs will love his book.

For all its wisdom and elegance, however, "The Back Channel" dissatisfies as history. It glides along at a high altitude, describing U.S. policy in broad strokes but leaving out messy details about internal deliberations and the quality of the decision-making process. For example, Burns makes no bones about the fact that Obama's Libya policy morphed from humanitarian intervention to regime change, and that regime change paved the way to state failure -- but he doesn't pin responsibility on individuals or a flawed process. In his telling, the fiasco sort of just happened. Similarly, he writes that NATO's expansion into former Soviet states violated U.S. promises to Gorbachev and poisoned relations with Russia, but he's hazy about how it came about. Instead, he says that policy was on "autopilot." Thankfully, he is more revealing on the shambolic run up to the Iraq war -- almost a case study of a non-process -- but even here he pulls punches when he could have called out fools and liars.

That's a shame, for Burns was in the room when the groundwork was laid for the "trainwrecks" -- his word -- that occurred in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Russia, and elsewhere. He didn't need to betray confidences or settle scores, but he did owe the public a careful reconstruction of events and a frank assessment of official performance, even if that meant naming a few names. He often fails at this task. We are the poorer for it, and "The Back Channel" is less than what it could have been.

But for what it is -- a smart memoir of a life in public service mixed with reflections on America's role in the world -- the book is outstanding. Everyone should read it.
6 people found this helpful
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A must read for anyone interested in the value of diplomacy

Bill Burns has written a wonderful book about the value of diplomacy as a first and not last resort. This is from a diplomat who served over twenty years in the foreign service, taking on a series of challenging positions in the Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43 and Obama administrations. For example he served as a special assistant to Secretary James Baker; as Ambassador to Jordan and to Russia; as Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, Undersecretary for Political affairs (# 3 job in State) and finally Deputy Secretary of State. These jobs represented some of the most challenging foreign service and senior management assignments during transformational moments in our modern history. Burns clearly demonstrated superb ability to work across the political aisle in the U.S. while effectively interacting with our allies and dealing with adversaries. The Back Channel provides an effective argument for the revitalization of diplomacy and is a well written account of how diplomacy can work to achieve national goals. I spent many years in the foreign service in Latin America, the Middle East and South Asia, and I believe Ambassador Burns has written a book that demonstrates the value of behind the scenes diplomacy as a means to address international challenges. His stories are filled with wisdom for those interested in learning about how diplomacy can advance our national interests.
6 people found this helpful
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Well worth the time to read

Really enjoyed reading this book .. balanced and helped understand more about what really happened.
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A great testimony to diplomacy in a time where we need it more than ever.

This book is an outstanding testament to the Foreign Service and to the career of one of this country's finest diplomats. I would encourage anyone interested in diplomacy and international affairs to read this as well as anyone considering joining the Foreign Service.
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More Books like this please...

In just a few days Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China will meet in Vienna to discuss how to move forward with the JCPOA (Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) -- basically, the Iran nuclear deal of which William J. Burns was the primary mover opening up a "Back Channel" with Iran and enabling the P5+1 to step up into full flung negotiations... a process that might have taken years, or perhaps may have never occurred.

And yet, the United States will not be at that meeting, because as Trump so eloquently stated it was "the worst deal ever."

When we withdraw from the world's most pressing problems, put a hand over our mouths, and essentially walk out of the room, we leave Russia and China at the table with our closest allies, our old friends, and enable them to establish lines of communication around us, imagining a new global order that circumvents U.S. dominance, giving rise to thoughts of how things might be different without us at the head of the table.

These are certainly tremulous times, and William J. Burns book could not come at a more propitious time.

If you just read the back cover of this book you'll find some of the most well respected political servants of our day starting with James Baker and ending with Condolezza Rice -- interspersed are also Hillary Clinton, Henry Kissinger, Madeline Albright, John Kerry, and George Shultz. Books like this that draw the applause from such diametrically opposed political leaders of our day do not exist. You must read this book.

I am just shocked that within 4 months of it's publishing that it maintains such a low comment rating here on Amazon. How is that possible? This book is a gold mine of wisdom and political history that ought to be standard reading for every foreign service diplomat and anyone looking to understand how the world really turns.

But, perhaps, it shouldn't be all that surprising as Burns himself concedes:

"Selling the practical virtues of diplomacy is a complicated undertaking. For all the debate about "hard power", "soft power", and "smart power" in recent years, diplomacy is most often about quite power, the largely invisible work of tending alliances, twisting arms, tempering disputes, and making long-term investments in relationships and societies. Diplomacy is punctuated only rarely by grand public break-throughs. Its benefits are hard to appreciate."

Or as Kissinger states: Diplomacy "is the patient accumulation of partial successes."

Still we must wake up when someone like Jim Mattis declares "... cutting funding for diplomacy would require him 'to buy more ammunition.'

Burns definitely hits the nail on the head when he states that "demonstrating that diplomacy and international influence are aimed as much at facilitating and accelerating domestic renewal as they are at shoring up global order."

Threading that needle and getting the American populace to really see and believe that would take a miracle, I believe, but it's true, so true.

This book really does come at such an important time in our history coming off two brutal "unilateral" wars where we did what we did because we could without taking the time to win "common cause" amongst our allies. We must recapture the art of diplomacy, or risk being sidelined by the "civilized" powers of the day that continue to believe that diplomatic channels still have a primary role in how the world turns.

So, in light of the important meeting in Vienna we need to pause as a nation and consider our assumptions that life will continue as it has with the U.S. at the head of the table while Russia and China begin to weigh in more heavily upon "solving" the key problems of our world today.

These final words of Burns ring almost prophetic:

"Pulling out of the nuclear deal alienated allies who had joined us in the effort for many years. Reimposition of U.S. sanctions in the face of opposition from partners further damaged a tool of policy already suffering from abuse, driving other countries to lessen reliance on the dollar and the U.S. financial system."

Could the July 28th meeting in Vienna spark a new world order -- a way around the U.S. financial system? Probably not right away with Iran making so many missteps in the Gulf, but we need to play our cards more wisely if we want to continue to lead the world.

Thank you, William J. Burns for your service to our country and for demonstrating to us all and recording it in this book the words that we all acknowledge deep down as essentially true, "Speak softly and carry a big stick, and you will go far."

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