Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
A Professional Foreigner: Life in Diplomacy

A Professional Foreigner: Life in Diplomacy

Marks, Edward

Hardcover

Political BiographiesInternational Relations

Publisher Price: $34.95

ISBN10: 1640125515
ISBN13: 9781640125513
Publisher: Potomac Books Inc
Published: Apr 1 2023
Pages: 304
Weight: 1.35
Height: 0.79 Width: 5.83 Depth: 8.98
Language: English
Young American Foreign Service officers are accustomed to being teased by friends and relatives as to what they do in the Foreign Legion or the Forest Service. In the United States, unlike in many countries, the role of a professional diplomat is little known or understood. In A Professional Foreigner Edward Marks describes his life as an American diplomat who served during the last four decades of the twentieth century, from 1959 to 2001.

Serving primarily in Africa and Asia, Marks was present during the era of decolonization in Africa (but always seemed to be at the opposite end of the continent from the hottest developments), was intimately involved in the early days of the U.S. government's antiterrorism programs, observed the unfolding of a nasty and tragic ethnic conflict in one of the most charming countries in the world, and saw the end of the Cold War at UN headquarters in New York. Along the way Marks served as the U.S. ambassador to two African nations.

In this memoir Marks depicts a Foreign Service officer's daily life, providing insight into the profession itself and what it was like to play a role in the steady stream of history, in a world of quotidian events often out of the view of the media and the attention of the world. Marks's stories--such as rescuing an American citizen from a house of ill repute in Mexico and the attempt to recruit mongooses for drug intervention in Sri Lanka--are both entertaining and instructive on the work of diplomats and their contributions to the American story.

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