The Foreign Service Journal, November 2013

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2013 27 MEMOIRS The Houseguests: A Memoir of Canadian Courage and CIA Sorcery Mark Lijek, Amazon Digital Services, 2012, $9.99/paperback; $8.99/Kindle, 318 pages. This memoir opens with a droll explanation of how and why Mark Lijek came to join the Foreign Service, via a somewhat circuitous route that first took him from Georgetown to the Army. Lijek then describes how he ended up in Iran for his first assignment, and how his wife, Cora, joined him there just two months before the November 1979 embassy takeover—which would turn them and four other Americans into long-term guests of the Canadian mission in Tehran. That experience, in turn, was one of the inspirations for the Oscar-winning Ben Affleck film about the episode, a connection Lijek recounts in “‘Argo’: How Hollywood Does History” (October 2012 FSJ). As Editor Steve Honley noted in his review of The Houseguests in the January Journal : “Though the Affleck movie made a good- faith effort to convey what the Lijeks and their fellow ‘house- guests’ endured, that was not really its focus. Reading this book is the only way to truly appreciate the emotional roller-coaster the six Americans rode. Though there were lighter moments along the way, one can practically feel the walls closing in on them as the days go by.” Mark Lijek, a Foreign Service officer from 1978 to 1996, served in Tehran, Hong Kong, Kathmandu, Warsaw, Frankfurt and Washington, D.C. He lives in the state of Washington, where he serves as the treasurer of the Anacortes Sister Cities Association. Lessons from a Diplomatic Life: Watching Flowers fromHorseback Marshall P. Adair, Rowman & Littlefield, 2013, $38, hardcover, 244 pages. “A delightful read,” is how Associate Editor Shawn Dorman characterized Marshall Adair’s book in her review in the Septem- ber Journal . “As he brings readers along on a journey from Paris to Lubumbashi and on to Asia (including several China assignments), his engaging personal story offers insights into history and diplomacy, as well as context for the events he describes and the flavor of the places in which he serves.” Adair, who grew up in the Foreign Service, recounts 55 years of life and work abroad. He begins with a discussion of a cautionary Chinese idiom that translates as “watching flowers from horse- back,” the book’s subtitle. The phrase refers to the practice of observing a phenomenon from too distant a position, leading to superficial and incorrect, or “hasty,” judgments. While acknowl- edging the importance of seeing the world from a broader perspective, Adair implores diplomats to stop and smell the roses of their assigned country, instead of just viewing them from a distant and protected place. The son of FSO Charles Adair Jr., Marshall Adair grew up in Latin America and Europe. During his own distinguished 35-year diplomatic career, he served on three continents and became an expert on Chinese politics and relations. He retired as a minister- counselor in 2007 and splits his time between homes in Arling- ton, Va., and Sugar Hill, N.H. He is currently a retiree representa- tive on the AFSA Governing Board. My Global Life: A Conversation with Raymond Malley Raymond Malley, Xlibris Corporation, 2012, $19.99, paperback, 156 pages. Readers interested in foreign affairs and global business should be fascinated by this extended conversation with retired senior diplomat and business executive Raymond Malley, a new volume in the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training’s Diplomatic Oral History Series. Because he moved between the public and private sectors of economic foreign relations, Malley is able to provide compelling insights into the differences between these two sectors. In some ways, the book is also a history of the United States Agency for International Development. Malley joined the Devel- opment Loan Fund in 1961; later that year, the John F. Kennedy administration merged the DLF with another agency to form USAID. He worked overseas in South Korea, India, Pakistan and Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), and soon mastered the intricacies of different elements within USAID as he negotiated and managed foreign aid programs in key Asian and African countries. He also formulated and introduced policies amid political infighting in Washington and Paris. A former Senior Foreign Service officer, Raymond Malley spent 23 years in operational and management positions with USAID. After retiring in 1983, he undertook consulting assign-