The Foreign Service Journal, November 2006

battlefields of El Salvador’s Marxist Revolution and Nic- aragua’s Contra War, Contra Cross is also an eerily timely admonition of the challenges and pitfalls of today’s ‘transfor- mational’ efforts to democra- tize the world,” says Dr. Timo- thy C. Brown of the Hoover Institution and Stanford Uni- versity. “It is a warning that victory will require both a very long-term commitment of major national resources and some serious attitude adjustments by us, beginning with our military and diplomatic corps.” William Meara takes us into the world of an Ameri- can adviser struggling with cultural differences and human rights violations while trying to stay alive in mur- derous El Salvador in the 1980s. His experiences with insurgency and counterinsurgency allow him to provide important insights into the difficulty of such missions. William R. Meara joined the Foreign Service in 1988, following four years as a U.S. Army officer on active duty in Honduras, El Salvador and Panama. As a diplomat he served in Honduras (where he was one of the embassy’s liaison officers to the Nicaraguan democratic resistance), Spain, the Dominican Re- public, the U.K. and the Azores. Mr. Ambassador: Warrior for Peace Edward J. Perkins and Connie Cronley, University of Oklahoma Press, 2006, $39.95, hardcover, 576 pages. “Had Mr. Ambassador: Warrior for Peace only recall- ed his 24-year diplomatic career, it would be well worth reading,” wrote retired FSO and former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Herman J. Cohen in his review of this mem- oir in the July-August FSJ . “But as a bonus, it gives us a total picture of his life. And what a fantastic life it has been!” Perkins’ life took him from a cotton farm in segregated Louisiana to the elite ranks of the N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 6 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 69 Ordering through afsa.org Here’s how it works: 1. Go to the AFSA Web site, www.afsa.org . 2. Click on the Marketplace tab (second brown tab from the right). 3. Click on the “AFSA and Amazon Books” icon. 4. Click on “FS Authors” and then go directly to book listings by subject. 5. Shop away! Not only is this a thrifty, efficient way to do your holiday shopping, but AFSA receives a 5-percent commission from Amazon on every item (books, CDs, toys, etc.) ordered in this manner. Books selected from the AFSA Web site bookstore generate an even higher commission payment. And ordering through AFSA doesn’t cost you a cent. So bookmark the AFSA site, use the link and help your association — and yourself!