The Foreign Service Journal, November 2015

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2015 35 The Mind of the African Strongman: Conversations with Dictators, Statesmen and Father Figures Herman J. Cohen, New Academia Publishing/VELLUM Books, 2015, $34/hardcover; $24/paperback, 218 pages. Ambassador and former Assistant Secre- tary of State for African Affairs Herman J. Cohen gives readers a unique window into the thoughts, decisions and personalities of the “first generation” of post-colonial African heads of state in The Mind of the African Strongman , the 57th volume in the ADST-DACOR Diplomats and Diplomacy Series. Cohen describes public meetings and private conversations with leaders such as Albert-Bernard Bongo of Gabon; Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya; Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia; Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe; Joseph Mobutu of Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo); Ibrahim Babangida of Nigeria; Muammar Gaddafi of Libya; Mohamed Siad Barre of Somalia; Charles Taylor of Libe- ria; and Nelson Mandela of South Africa. Providing historical background on each leader and con- text on what was occurring in each country during the time he engaged its leadership, the author plumbs the leaders’ views for insight into why African countries have lagged behind other emerging nations, despite billions of dollars in international assistance and immense natural resource reserves, and discusses how the “third generation” of African leaders can overcome the mistakes of their predecessors. During a 39-year Foreign Service career, Herman J. Cohen served in five different African capitals and as U.S. ambassador to Senegal from 1977 to 1980. He was assistant secretary of State for African affairs under George H.W. Bush and special assistant for African affairs under Ronald Reagan. He has been president of Cohen and Woods, a consulting firm specializing in assistance to American corporations doing business in Africa, since 2004. Greek Urban Warriors: Resistance & Terrorism, 1967-2014 John Brady Kiesling, Lycabettus Press, 2015, €30, 413 pages. In the first scholarly work on this topic, former FSO John Brady Kiesling presents a history of political violence in Greece, with a particular focus on the political terrorist group 17 November, or 17N, active from the 1970s to the early 21st century. The Greek state struggled for legitimacy for most of the 20th century. After seven years of military dictatorship, civilian rule returned in 1974. But many Greeks believed the new govern- ment was greedy, corrupt and controlled financially by foreign actors. This widespread sentiment allowed 17N to operate with impunity for more than two decades, committing over 30 politi- cal murders and engaging in kidnapping and the use of impro- vised explosive devices. In 2003, a number of 17N members were finally prosecuted. Living in Athens, Kiesling followed these trials closely and began to write his book based on their records. Such groups did more harm than good, he argues; the climate of fear their actions created allowed the government, with public support, to enact severe restrictions on civil liberties, just as the military govern- ment had done before them. John Brady Kiesling served in the Foreign Service from 1983 until his resignation in 2003 in protest over U.S. policy in Iraq. He was posted to Tel Aviv, Casablanca and Yerevan, and served as chief of the political section in Athens from 2000 to 2003. He lives in Athens and writes on history, archaeology, ancient religion and politics. The Voice of the Foreign Service: A History of the American Foreign Service Association Harry W. Kopp, Foreign Service Books, 2015, $30/paperback; $14.99/Kindle, 358 pages. The U.S. Foreign Service and the American Foreign Service Association were born together in 1924. In this first-ever book about the association’s more than 90-year history, author and former diplomat Harry Kopp chronicles the evolution of the Foreign Service and the events that shaped AFSA into what it is today—the professional association and labor union of the United States Foreign Service. Published by the books division of AFSA, Foreign Service Books, The Voice of the Foreign Service takes readers through the early history of diplomacy, from Benjamin Franklin to the Rogers Act of 1924 and the Foreign Service Acts of 1946 and 1980, fol- lowing the evolution of the Foreign Service and the association through the 20th century and into the 21st. Harry W. Kopp was a member of the Foreign Service from 1967 to 1985, and served as deputy assistant secretary of State for international trade policy in the Carter and Reagan admin-