The Foreign Service Journal, November 2012

46 NOVEMBER 2012 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL The George Washington University. He received the State Depart- ment’s Superior Honor Award, the U.S. Army’s Superior Civilian Honor Award and a personal letter of commendation from the chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff for his 2005-2006 work in Afghanistan. Fit to Serve: Reflections on a Secret Life, Private Struggle and Public Battle to Become the First Openly Gay U.S. Ambassador James C. Hormel and Erin Martin, Skyhorse Publishing, 2011, $24.95, hardcover, 320 pages. Born in 1933 in Austin, Minn., James C. Hormel, the heir to the Spam fortune, grew up under the constant threat of kidnapping. And despite his wealth, he felt alone and vulnerable. But these challenges paled in comparison with Hormel’s biggest struggle: being gay during the 1950s. In this memoir, he recounts his journey from life in the closet to success and accomplishment as his true self. James Hormel lives in San Francisco, where he established the James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center at the San Francisco Public Library, and devotes his time to philanthropy and Demo- cratic politics. Erin Martin is a former journalist for the Hartford Courant and press secretary and speechwriter for former Senator Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn. She lives in New York City. Born Under an Assumed Name: The Memoir of a Cold War Spy’s Daughter Sara Mansfield Taber, Potomac Books, 2012, $29.95, hardcover, 396 pages. There are two riveting stories here: The first follows the author as she is born into and grows up in a CIA family, living in numer- ous countries while her father works as an American spy. Her father is the focal point of the second story, which follows his tribulations as an undercover agent. Each has a distinct problem to contend with. Sara is trying to find her identity at a young age while constantly on the move. Her father, mean- while, becomes increasingly disillusioned with his job and the track his country is taking. Sara Mansfield Taber is the author of Bread of Three Rivers: The Story of a French Loaf (Beacon Press, 2002) and other works. She lives in the Washington, D.C., area and teaches at the Bethesda Writing Center. The Dictator’s Handbook: A Practical Manual for the Aspiring Tyrant Randall Wood and Carmine DeLuca, Gull Pond Books, 2012, $14.99, paperback, 320 pages. History is littered with the rise and fall of power-hungry leaders. This satirical guide covers the basics of being a dictator—from getting into power to managing your government. As the authors explain, it is “compiled on the basis of publicly documented information and the personal experience and creative talent of the authors.”The ‘evolving art’ of dictator- ship may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but this “partial catalog of some of the barbaric, shameless, self-serving, and opportunistic practices of the world’s leaders” is nonetheless a light and enter- taining read. Randall Wood is deputy resident country director for the Mil- lenniumChallenge Corporation in Dakar. Carmine DeLuca is a writer and history enthusiast with an avid interest in the subject of authoritarian rulers. Cuba: The Audacious Revolution George Gedda, CreateSpace, 2011, $12.98, paperback, 362 pages. George Gedda visited Cuba 31 times as a journalist. In Cuba: The Audacious Revo- lution , he reviews the country’s history, putting into perspective its ills and promise and the status of Cuban-U.S. relations. The book is useful for beginners and experts alike because very few Americans have had as much hands-on experience with this famous but isolated country as Gedda. For a full review, see the March Foreign Service Journal . Gedda retired as a diplomatic correspondent with the Associ- ated Press in 2007 after a 39-year career, during which he visited 87 countries on trips with nine Secretaries of State. He is a longtime contributor to The Foreign Service Journal . Conquered into Liberty: Two Centuries of Battles Along the Great Warpath that Made the American Way of War Eliot A. Cohen, Free Press, 2011, $30, hardcover, 432 pages. “Insightful and penetrating in its analysis, this is not just a remark- able work of history; it traces the roots of the institutions and culture that continue to shape America’s armed forces in our own time.”That is how former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice describes Conquered into Liberty , a scholarly investigation of the