Skip to content
Description
By: William J. Burns
“A masterful diplomatic memoir” (The Washington Post) from CIA director and career ambassador William J. Burns, from his service under five presidents to his personal encounters with Vladimir Putin and other world leaders—an impassioned argument for the enduring value of diplomacy in an increasingly volatile world.
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 Afghanistan, Iraq, and 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.
“A masterful diplomatic memoir” (The Washington Post) from CIA director and career ambassador William J. Burns, from his service under five presidents to his personal encounters with Vladimir Putin and other world leaders—an impassioned argument for the enduring value of diplomacy in an increasingly volatile world.
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 Afghanistan, Iraq, and 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.
You may also like
熱銷中 Top Trending
Kensuke's Kingdom - Egmont Modern Classics (Paperback) (Michael Morpurgo)
Sale priceHK$60.00
Regular priceHK$104.00
In stock
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Chalice of the Gods (International paperback edition)
Sale priceHK$89.00
Regular priceHK$140.00
In stock
Diary of a Roblox Pro #1: Monster Escape (Ari Avatar)
Sale priceHK$48.00
Regular priceHK$71.90
In stock
Diary of a Roblox Pro #2: Dragon Pet (Ari Avatar)
Sale priceFrom HK$43.00
Regular priceHK$70.00
In stock
Diary of a Roblox Pro #3: Obby Challenge (Ari Avatar)
Sale priceFrom HK$43.00
Regular priceHK$70.00
In stock
Brown: My Alter Ego Is A Superhero Book 1 (Håkon Øvreås)
Sale priceFrom HK$64.00
Regular priceHK$80.00
In stock
Burt the Beetle #02 Burt the Beetle Lives Here! (Ashley Spires)
Sale priceHK$101.00
Regular priceHK$150.00
In stock
Pearson Longman Level-up! English Test Papers (with Online diagnostic assessment^破解常犯錯誤)
Sale priceHK$63.00
Regular priceHK$73.00
In stock
