The Foreign Service Journal, November 2003

Voice of America: A History Alan L. Heil Jr., Columbia University Press, 2003, $37.50, hardcover, 540 pages. The first comprehensive histo- ry of the Voice of America since the mid-1980s, this book tells the inside story of an organization that is known to millions around the world but is familiar to only a handful of Americans. An institution that stands, as former VOA director John Chancellor once said, “at the crossroads of journalism and diplomacy,” VOA is the nation’s largest publicly funded broadcasting network. It reaches more than 90 million people in over 50 languages through radio, the Internet and some 1.500 affiliated radio and television stations around the globe. This account of VOA’s history opens with a glimpse of how VOA covered the dramatic developments in China during the spring of 1989, and then steps back for a chronological look from the agency’s beginning. With transcripts of radio broadcasts and personal anec- dotes, the author shows readers many of the greatest events of the past 60 years. The book is fascinating and highly readable. Alan L. Heil Jr. worked for VOA from 1962 until he retired in 1998, holding various positions including foreign correspondent, chief of news and current affairs and deputy director of programs. Matthew B. Ridgway: Soldier, Statesman, Scholar, Citizen George C. Mitchell, Stackpole Books, 2002, $15.95, paperback, 231 pages. “Never one to trumpet his own accomplishments, and often work- ing in the shadow of great gener- als such as Patton, MacArthur, Eisen-hower, and Marshall, Ridgway was content to make a difference and let his deeds do the talking. As a result little has been written about this man and his achievements,” states George Mitchell in the foreword to his biography of one of America’s great leaders. Mitchell’s carefully written account sets forth Ridgway’s accomplishments, setbacks and contribu- tions to his family, the U.S., and the world at large. The book is divided into four parts — soldier, statesman, scholar, and citizen — to focus on the complex parts that came together to make up this extraordinary man. Ridgeway commanded the 82nd Airborne Division in the invasion in Europe, succeeded MacArthur in Korea, was the U.S. delegate to the U.N., served as supreme commmander of the Far East, and succeeded Eisenhower as supreme commander in Europe, and was counselor to four presidents. Presently an international consultant and mediator and adjunct professor at Point Park College in Pittsburgh, Pa., career FSO George Mitchell had the opportunity to work with General Ridgway while directing the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh and serving as president of the National Council of World Affairs Organizations. Their friendship grew, and with it Ridgway’s trust in Mitchell to write his biography, a privilege he had denied several others. Pen of Fire: John Moncure Daniel Peter Bridges, Kent State University Press, 2002, $28.00, hardcover, 284 pages. During his short and stormy life, John Moncure Daniel served as a U.S. diplomat, journalist and Confederate officer. Strongly pro- slavery, fiercely loyal to the Confederacy, and an outspoken opponent of Jefferson Davis, Daniel made many enemies and fought at least nine duels. This is the first full-length biography of the outspoken editor of the Richmond Examiner , who died in Richmond in March 1865, at age 39, days before Union troops took the city. Author Peter Bridges entered the Foreign Service in 1957 and served in Panama, Moscow, Prague, Rome, Mogadishu and Washington. He was ambas- sador to Somalia from 1984 to 1986. Since retirement he has served as executive director of the Una Chapman Cox Foundation, manager for international affairs of Shell Oil Company and the resident repre- sentative of the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development in Prague. He has published numerous articles, including several in the FSJ , and one previous book, Safirka: An American Envoy (2000). Pen of Fire has been nominated for the American Academy of Diplomacy’s 2003 Book Award. F O C U S 30 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 3