Includes bibliographical references (pages 471--476) and index.
Contents:
Apprenticeship : the education of a diplomat -- The Baker years : shaping order -- Yeltsin's Russia : the limits of agency -- Jordan's moment of transition : the power of partnership -- Age of terror : the inversion of force and diplomacy -- Putin's disruptions : managing great power trainwrecks -- Obama's long game : bets, pivots, and resets in a post-primacy world -- The Arab Spring : when the short game intercedes -- Iran and the bomb : the secret talks -- Pivotal power : restoring America's tool of first resort.
Summary:
"Ambassador William J. Burns is the most distinguished and admired American diplomat of the last half century. Over the course of four decades, he played a central role in the most consequential diplomatic episodes of his time--from the bloodless end of the Cold War to post-Cold War relations with Putin's Russia, from post-9/11 tumult in the Middle East to the secret nuclear talks with Iran. Upon his retirement, Secretary John Kerry said Burns belonged on "the short list of American diplomatic legends, alongside George Kennan." In The Back Channel, Burns recounts with vivid detail and incisive analysis some of the seminal moments of his career. He draws on a trove of newly declassified cables and memos to give readers a rare, inside look at American diplomacy in action, and of the people who worked with him. His dispatches from war-torn Chechnya and Qadhafi's camp in the deserts of Libya and his searing memos warning of the "Perfect Storm" unleashed by the Iraq War will reshape our understanding of history and 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, as well as a powerful reminder, in a time of great turmoil, of the importance of diplomacy"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.