The Foreign Service Journal, November 2010

N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 0 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 17 history at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. A widely published writer, she spent two years living in Prague to research and write Czechoslovakia. Regime Change in the Yugoslav Successor States: Divergent Paths toward a New Europe Mieczyslaw P. Boduszynski, The John Hopkins University Press, 2010, $60, hardcover, 360 pages. The dissolution of the Social- ist Federal Republic of Yugo- slavia into seven states in the early 1990s is a compli- cated and intriguing topic. In his new book, FSO Mieczyslaw Boduszynski explores four of the successor states —Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia — and how they developed po- litically in the tumultuous years after their creation. Boduszynski first analyzes the region as a whole, pro- viding an excellent overview. He then explores Croatia’s “simulated democracy,” Slovenia’s “substantive democ- racy,” Macedonia’s “illegitimate democracy,” and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia’s “populist authoritari- anism” during the transitional period of the 1990s. Helpful graphs and tables highlight the text, as Bo- duszynski describes the internal and external circum- stances that shaped the different forms of democracy in the Yugoslav successor states. He concludes by noting that all of these states are already on track to become members in the European Union, “a fact that offers great hope for democracy, sta- bility and security in the region.” Mieczyslaw P. Boduszynski has served in Tirana, Pristina and Tokyo. A veteran teacher, he holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California at Berkeley. The New Nicaragua: Lessons in Development, Democracy and Nation-Building for the United States Steven E. Hendrix, Praeger, 2009, $59.95, hardcover, 286 pages. The New Nicaragua is an in- triguing blend of history, political analysis and autobiography covering a turbulent two- year period in modern Nicaraguan history, from June 2005 to June 2007. After three years in Washington, USAID Foreign Service officer Hendrix, a self-described “field type,” headed out to respond to the emerging challenge in Nicaragua. The issues involved corrupt government, undemocratic elections and conniving political leaders. Hendrix arrived just as Daniel Ortega returned to the Nicaraguan presidency and U.S. policy shifted, in Hen- drix’s words, “from right versus left to right versus wrong.” As Hendrix describes it, his time in Nicaragua pre- sented a mixed bag of solutions. Though less overtly antagonistic than Ortega had been 25 years earlier, his administration still lacked transparency, and corruption was still a problem. But The New Nicaragua also offers a happier lesson. Hendrix says that he “hopes any reader of this work will see that we did have a major im- pact in Nicaragua in promoting democracy.” And in dif- ficult circumstances, such as those described in this book, that’s certainly a promising outcome. An FSO since 1967, Steven Hendrix is a crisis, sta- bilization and governance officer with USAID, whose postings include Nicaragua, Iraq and Guatemala. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School and is a licensed attorney in the United States, Bolivia and Guatemala. He lives in Arlington, Va., with his wife and three children. Edwin O. Reischauer and the American Discovery of Japan George R. Packard, Columbia University Press, 2010, $32.50, hardcover, 368 pages. In the preface, George Packard explains his intent to supplement Edwin O. Reischauer’s autobiogra- phy by adding details of his life and describing his con- tinuing influence since his death in 1990. The result is an excellent chronicle of the life and times of this ex- traordinary man, whose ultimate goal was to “cure America’s ignorance of East Asia.” In April 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed Edwin O. Reischauer as ambassador to Japan. Already influential as an author and professor, Reischauer served for more than five years, forever altering the way most Americans viewed East Asia. Born to American missionary parents in Japan, Reischauer lived there until he was 16, ultimately studying in the United States and establishing the East Asian studies department at Harvard before returning to Tokyo as ambassador. Through Packard’s well-crafted prose, Reischauer emerges as a dynamic but flawed man who sacrificed