The Foreign Service Journal, November 2013

20 NOVEMBER 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL HISTORYAND BIOGRAPHY American Diplomacy and the Israeli War of Independence Frank W. Brecher, McFarland & Company, Inc., 2013, $45, paperback, 212 pages. In American Diplomacy and the Israeli War of Independence , retired FSO Frank Brecher takes on many of the historical assump- tions surrounding the Arab-Israeli conflict, particularly at Israel’s birth in 1947-1948. This work is a follow-up to his Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy Toward the Jews fromWilson to Roosevelt , released more than 20 years ago. In light of recently released primary sources from Israel, Britain, the United States and the United Nations, Brecher gives new consideration to such issues as Palestine and the Gaza Strip, the role of the U.N., and the introduction of Iran and Turkey, both non-Arab states, into Israel’s conflict. He acknowledges that while Jewish-related issues in foreign policy were of little concern at the start of the 20th century, by mid-century they had become a primary focus, and today are paramount to U.S. interests. Brecher also examines the American role in the conflict—how it began and how it developed into an extensive involvement in the region, highlighting those individuals in theWhite House and State Department whomost fatefully affected the conflict.Their interactions and disagreements, as well as the domestic and foreign interests at play in America in the late 1940s, have had an enormous effect onWashington’s current strategy toward theMiddle East. Frank Brecher has written several historical books on U.S. foreign policy, including Negotiating the Louisiana Purchase: Robert Livingston’s Mission to France , 1801-1804 (McFarland & Company, Inc., 2006). 50 Years in USAID: Stories from the Front Lines Janet C. Ballantyne and Maureen Dugan, Arlington Hall Press, 2012, $15, paperback, 219 pages. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Agency for Inter- national Development, editors Janet C. Ballantyne and Maureen Dugan reached out to all agency staff, alumni and administrators to seek their thoughts on serving with USAID. This collection of 115 brief essays submitted in response to that invitation, organized by decade, is a volume in the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Memoirs and Occasional Papers Series. During the 1960s, USAID and the Peace Corps challenged Americans to expand their vision toward the developing world. Contributors who served in those pioneering years proudly recount their role in aiding 31 newly independent African countries and launching Long-Range Assistance Strategies, the Alliance for Progress and the Technical Assistance Bureau. The 1970s saw initiatives in Vietnam that combined economic and technical assistance and the counterinsurgency pacification program known as Civil Operations and Revolutionary Develop- ment Support. During the 1980s USAID expanded the countries it assisted as well as its work in health. New countries, a continuing focus on major disasters, and a heightened interest in democracy and governance programs dominated USAID’s work during the 1990s. In the 21st century USAID has undertaken major reconstruc- tion and development programs in Iraq and Afghanistan, and pursued new directions in agriculture, health and education. Contributors also reflect on the role of the new office of Director of Foreign Assistance that oversees USAID, State Department and other foreign assistance programs. Our primary purpose in compiling this list is to celebrate the wealth of literary talent within the Foreign Service community, and to give our readers the opportunity to support colleagues by sampling their wares. Each entry contains full publication data, including the list price, and a short commentary. As has become our custom, we also include a short listing of books “of related interest” to diplomats and their families that were not written by FS authors. Once again, although many of these books are available elsewhere, we encourage our readers to use the AFSA website’s online bookstore to place your orders. The AFSA Bookstore has links to Amazon and, at no extra cost to you, each book sold there generates a small royalty for AFSA. For the few books that cannot be ordered through Amazon, we have provided alterna- tive links or, when the book is not available online, the necessary contact information. But enough crass commercialism. On to the books! —Susan Brady Maitra, Senior Editor