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 23 power of diplomacy in positively affecting both indi- viduals and the world. Nancy Keeney Forster was married to the late FSO Clifton Forster for almost 60 years. They lived in Cal- ifornia, the Philippines, Japan, Burma, Israel, Hawaii and Washington, D.C. In addition to managing these adventures, Forster became a career educator and di- rector for the International Baccalaureate program. She currently resides in Tiburon, Calif. Slovakia on the Road to Independence: An American Diplomat’s Eyewitness Account Paul Hacker, The Penn State University Press, 2010, $65, hardcover, 240 pages. Veteran FSO Paul Hacker combines personal memories and political history in this engaging memoir, in which he chronicles his years as head of the U.S. consulate in Bratislava, set against the backdrop of the Slovakian struggle for independence. In October 1990, Hacker was given the responsibil- ity of reopening the consulate, which had been closed for 40 years during the Cold War. Slovakia describes the country’s fascinating three-year journey to inde- pendence in 1993, at which point the U.S. consulate in Bratislava became the U.S. embassy. Hacker, who has years of experience in Eastern Eu- ropean affairs, recounts anecdotes of personal and po- litical interest, including his interactions with Ambas- sador Shirley Temple Black, who headed Embassy Prague at the time (1989-1992). The book’s postscript provides a summary of the 17 years since Slovakia’s in- dependence, offering a new perspective on the issues of the early 1990s. This succinct volume expertly com- bines autobiographical and historical information to create the captivating story of a nation on the verge of sovereignty and a diplomat who experienced the jour- ney firsthand. Dr. Paul Hacker had a 30-year career in the Foreign Service, during which he served as principal officer in the U.S. consulate in Bratislava from 1990 to 1992 and as chargé d’affaires of the U.S. embassy there in 1993. He and his family currently live in Florida.