The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2021

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2021 59 AFSA NEWS Inside Diplomacy A Look at the Arctic Region with U.S. Coordinator James DeHart U.S. Coordinator for the Arctic Region James DeHart joined AFSA on May 26 for a virtual discussion of current issues in Arctic diplomacy. AFSA Presi- dent Eric Rubin interviewed DeHart during the hourlong event. DeHart also answered several questions from the audience, which numbered nearly 200 people. Climate change is having a major impact on the Arctic region, DeHart said, adding that the Arctic is warming three times faster than the Journal inter- viewed DeHart in its May 2021 edition, which focused on Arc- tic diplomacy. DeHart is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with 28 years of experience as a U.S. diplomat. With significant experience in regional security, civilian- military cooperation and international negotiations, he holds the rank of Minister U.S. Coordinator for the Arctic Region James DeHart. STATEDEPARTMENT global average. As a result, he said, the Arctic will become a busier place in the com- ing years. He expects to see more countries involved in resource exploration, and more tourism. DeHart also said Russia and China are both show- ing great interest in the Arctic, with Russia building infrastructure and military capability there, and China acquiring mineral licenses to gain a foothold in the region. The Foreign Service Counselor and was appointed U.S. Coordi- nator for the Arctic Region in 2020. Inside Diplo- macy is a new virtual series of discussions that explore current national security issues as they relate to foreign policy and the Foreign Service. Members can view this discussion at afsa.org/ video. n Book Notes Tecumseh and the Prophet Peter Cozzens. FSO (ret.) Peter Cozzens joined AFSA on April 22 to discuss his book, Tecumseh and the Prophet: The Shawnee Brothers Who Defied a Nation (Knopf, 2020). This Zoom event drew some 100 people. Until the Americans killed Tecumseh in 1813, the Shaw- nee chief and his brother Ten- skwatawa were the architects of the broadest pan-Indian confederation in U.S. his- tory. In previous accounts of Tecumseh’s life, Tenskwa- tawa has been dismissed as a talentless charlatan and a drunk. But Cozzens, an international award-winning historian, shows us that while Tecum- seh was a brilliant diplomat and war leader—admired by the same white Americans he opposed—it was Tenskwa- tawa, called the “Shawnee Prophet,” who created a doc- trine of religious and cultural revitalization that unified the disparate tribes of the Old Northwest. Detailed research into Native American society and customs reveals how both men came to power in differ- ent but no less impor- tant ways. Cozzens takes us to the front lines of the chaos and violence that char- acterized the young American republic, when settlers spilled across the Appalachians to bloody effect in their haste to exploit lands won from the British in the War of Inde- pendence, disregarding their rightful Indian owners. Tecumseh and the Prophet presents the untold story of the resistance to this threat that was organized by the two most significant siblings in Native American history, whose names, Cozzens helps us under- stand, should be writ large in the annals of America. Peter Coz- zens is also the author of the bestsell- ing, award-winning The Earth Is Weeping: The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West (Vintage, 2017). During his Foreign Service career, Cozzens received AFSA’s William R. Rivkin award for constructive dissent in 2002. AFSAmembers can view a video of the book talk at afsa. org/video. n