50 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2026 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Herman Melville in the Berkshires John S. Dickson, The History Press, 2026, $24.99/paperback, print only, 160 pages. The mountains, rivers, forests, waterfalls, and lakes of the Berkshires in western Massachusetts have long attracted artists and writers. Author Herman Melville first came to the Berkshires as a young boy and was so inspired by the surroundings that he returned to live there for 13 years, in one of the most productive writing periods of his life. He finished his masterpiece Moby Dick in his first year there, seated in his study with a view of Mount Greylock. Writing about Melville’s experience there, retired Foreign Service Officer John Dickson thinks his wanderings will strike a chord with FSOs, noting that Melville once wrote: “No matter how long I stayed in a foreign country, I was not of it, but an observer, looking in from the outside.” John Dickson joined the Foreign Service in 1964 and was posted in Taipei, Saigon, Yokohama, Tokyo, Vienna, Beijing, Oslo, Hong Kong, and Washington, D.C. Profiles in Service: Peace Corps Roots in American Diplomacy Ben East, Arlington Hall Press, 2026, $19.95/paperback, e-book available, 307 pages. From the founding of the Peace Corps in 1961 to more recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Profiles in Service recounts how JFK’s bold experiment shaped diplomatic careers and influenced modern U.S. diplomacy, tracing how the volunteer experience contributed to the successful careers of many leading Foreign Service members. Drawing on Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST) oral histories and contemporary interviews, the book follows volunteers who tracked looted antiquities in Iraq, built relations in Kabul after 9/11, secured village infrastructure in Vietnam, and were taken hostage in Iran. As the Peace Corps turns 65, Profiles offers a timely reflection on how citizen diplomacy contributes to U.S. foreign policy—and why those roots matter. Ben East was a Peace Corps volunteer in Malawi from 1996 to 1998. He joined the Foreign Service in 2002 and served in Jeddah, Managua, Accra, Mexico City, Mumbai, and Washington, D.C., before retiring in 2023. East, a member of the FSJ Editorial Board, has also written two novels: Two Pumps for the Body Man (2016) and Patchworks (2017). This is his nonfiction debut. Representing America: Firsthand Accounts from a Century of U.S. Diplomacy (1924–2024) Robin Matthewman, ed., Arlington Hall Press, 2025, $29.95/paperback, e-book available, 374 pages. History comes alive when told through firsthand accounts, and U.S. diplomats tell a host of riveting, unforgettable stories, from the amusing to the tragic to the headline-making. Representing America is an anthology of more than 300 of these stories from the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training’s Foreign Affairs Oral History collection, a decades-old treasure trove of great moments in history for historians, authors, journalists, genealogists, foreign policy specialists, and students. Opening a window into a century of U.S. diplomacy, this book reveals how members of the U.S. Foreign Service have shaped historic events, served the American people, and faced both sacrifice and danger in the line of duty. Editor Robin Matthewman retired from the Foreign Service in 2022 after 35 years. She then joined ADST as a staff oral historian and has worked with interviewees from all levels and specialties. She led a team of retired U.S. diplomats, including Chris Sibilla, Peter Eicher, Carol Peasley, David Reuther, and Teresita Schaffer, to select and edit these excerpts and was aided by dozens more who suggested topics and reviewed draft chapters. A Burning Hunger: One Family’s Struggle Against Apartheid Lynda Schuster, Ohio University Press, 2026, $35.00/paperback, e-book available, 472 pages. On June 16, 1976, the youth of Soweto rose up in protest against a new rule making Afrikaans the language of instruction in their schools. Tsietsi Mashinini, a charismatic high school student, led them in demonstrations that quickly turned into South Africa’s biggest rebellion.
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