The Foreign Service Journal, October 2011

O C T O B E R 2 0 1 1 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 21 civil war that is “fleshed out with first- hand profiles of its leaders and obser- vations on recent political turmoil, along with a shrewd insider’s analysis of Washington’s policy toward the country, which he feels is too aloof.” John Campbell, a career diplomat who served as U.S. ambassador to Nigeria from 2004 to 2007, explores Nigeria’s postcolonial history and presents a nuanced ex- planation of the events and conditions that have carried this complex, dynamic and very troubled giant to the edge. He focuses on the oil wealth, endemic corruption and elite competition that have undermined the country’s nascent democratic institutions and alienated an increasingly im- poverished population that is also subject to bloody sectar- ian violence. While Nigerians often claim they are masters of “dancing on the brink” without falling off, state failure is a real possibility. Campbell suggests concrete policy op- tions to help avoid such an outcome and promote genuine political, social and economic development. Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink is a “tour de force in every sense of the word” and “demands the attention of every Nigerian and every American interested in Nigerian politics and Nigeria’s place in African and global affairs” writes Stan Cho Ilo in a review featured on Nigeri- aworld.com. “The idea of Nigeria being on the brink is a warning rather than a prediction of an ineluctable path to perdition. ... This book will no doubt provide a good ref- erence point for political discourse about Nigeria for many years to come.” John Campbell, a retiredmember of the Senior Foreign Service, is the Ralph Bunche Senior Fellow for Africa Pol- icy Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Pacific Gibraltar: U.S.-Japanese Rivalry over the Annexation of Hawaii, 1885-1898 William Michael Morgan, Naval Institute Press, 2011, $34.95, hardcover, 352 pages. As William Morgan points out in his introduction to Pacific Gibraltar , while any mention of Hawaii instantly evokes images of an iconic island paradise or shattered warships at Pearl Harbor, the history of U.S. involvement in this strategically vital archipelago is far less well under- stood by Americans than most would care to admit. Although its invaluable commanding position as the shield and gateway to the west coast of the United States was recognized by the mid-19th century, for most Ameri- cans, Hawaii before World War II remains a mystery. For both the avid student of history and those whose knowl- edge of Hawaii extends no further than episodes of “Hawaii Five-O,” Morgan offers a fresh and thorough re-evaluation of America’s first adventure of overseas imperialism. Pacific Gibraltar, an ADST-DACOR Diplomats and Diplomacy book, charts the course of American involve- ment in Hawaii from the early whaling and sugar enter- prises in the 1850s and 1860s to the eventual annexation of the archipelago in 1898. Morgan follows the complex in- terplay of commercial assets, long-term strategic concerns and ethno-political tensions among native Hawaiians, white oligarchs and the burgeoning population of immigrants, largely Japanese, from Asia that led the U.S. ultimately to annex it. An engrossing account of a vital early step in America’s maturation into a global power, Pacific Gibraltar will be of great value both to serious scholars and the casually curious alike. A 30-year veteran of the Foreign Service, WilliamMor- gan is a professor of strategic studies at the Marine Corps War College. He lives in Fairfax, Va. Refugee Workers in the Indochina Exodus, 1975-1982 Larry Clinton Thompson, McFarland, 2010, $45, paperback, 283 pages; $16.19, Kindle Edition. On the heels of the U.S. with- drawal from Southeast Asia, the gov- ernments of South Vietnam, Cam- bodia and Laos fell in rapid succes- sion to advancing communist armies, resulting in a sudden deluge of refugees from all three countries. These included political asylum-seekers, people displaced by conflict and, especially, members of ethnic minorities that had aligned themselves with the Americans during the war. Many of these people found themselves persecuted by the new regimes and seemingly abandoned by their erstwhile allies. Thompson’s book chronicles the efforts of American aid workers —dissenters and idealists from State, the military, USAID and other agencies — to help those hit worst by the war and its immediate aftermath. Over the next quar- C OVER S TORY