The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2015

36 JANUARY FEBRUARY 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL several chapters from it. I have no doubt eager students will read beyond the assigned parts. Other Notable Works Alas, I cannot as wholeheartedly recommend the 2011 Routledge Handbook of Diplomacy and Statecraft , edited by B.J.C. McKercher. While it is certainly handier than e Oxford Handbook at just 489 pages, its typeface is so small that I had to squint to read it. Moreover, three-quarters of its content discusses the foreign policy of various nations, not diplomacy. As something of a purist, I had hoped for the reverse ratio, in keeping with the book’s title. at said, I found some useful material here. Christer Jönsson, a Swedish professor and co- author of Essence of Diplomacy (2005), contributed the excellent chapter on “ eorising Diplomacy.” Not being an expert on this topic, I found Jöns- son’s explanation lucid and useful. But I found Professor Jeremy Black’s opening chapter, “Diplomatic History: A New Appraisal,” to be a bit obscure, particularly in comparison with his excellent book, A History of Diplomacy (Univer- sity of Chicago Press, 2010). Speaking of Routledge, I would encourage readers inter- ested in public diplomacy to peruse the 2009 Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy , published in association with the University of Southern California’s Center on Public Diplomacy. I often review the Center’s website for insightful research and discussions on PD (www.uscpublicdiplomacy. org/publications). Another sweeping work on diplomacy is Oxford’s sixth edition of Satow’s Diplomatic Practice (originally published in 1917, and reissued as a paperback in 2011), edited by Sir Ivor Roberts, the former British diplomat and scholar. is is not a book one picks up and reads from start to nish. Rather, it is more a handy reference tool—mar- velously written—to dip into when dealing with complex issues of diplomatic law and practice. I’ve used it on several occasions to get quickly up to speed. While there is a bias toward British diplomatic practice in the book, the editors do highlight divergent practices on a topic of diplomatic law and practice, especially when the other view is that of the United States. For instance, Sir Ivor furnishes a succinct yet clear analysis of di erent governments’ approaches to asylum, a subject for which there is no settled practice. ough Satow may seem quaint now, it can still be extremely useful for entry- and mid-level FSOs confronting serious questions like agré- ment or asylum for the rst time. So I urge every embassy, however meager its book allowance, to splurge on this impressive update of Satow’s clas- sic. You and your successors will appreciate it. Another handy reference work is Marjorie M. Whiteman’s Digest of International Law , which the State Department published in 1963. Sadly, it is out of print, but most post libraries probably have a copy. A more recent general work well worth acquiring is Diplomatic Practice Between Tradition and Innovation (World Scienti c, 2010) by Juergen Kleiner, former German ambassador and emeritus professor of international relations at Boston Univer- sity. Probably the most proli c contemporary writer on diplo- macy is Professor Geo R. Berridge, formerly of the University of Leicester and now a senior fellow at the DiploFoundation. Each of his many books is impeccably written and full of insights into the fascinating formation of modern diplomacy. His textbook, Diplomacy in eory and Practice , now in its fourth edition The Oxford Handbook approaches traditional areas of diplomacy with a modern focus, but much of its value comes from the sections devoted to the evolving realms of “non-traditional” forms.