The Foreign Service Journal, November 2018

36 NOVEMBER 2018 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Prelude to Genocide: Arusha, Rwanda, and the Failure of Diplomacy David Rawson, Ohio University Press, 2018, $65/hardcover, $35/paperback, 342 pages. Despite the presence of a United Nations Assistance Mission and an intervention that sought to create a peace process throughout 1992 and 1993, the troubled state of Rwanda continued to simmer with tension and volatility. The fragile situation was ultimately shattered by the downing of Rwandan President Habyarimana’s plane in April 1994, which opened the door to civil war and genocide. In this story of frontline diplomacy David Rawson attempts to understand why negotiations failed to keep tragedy at bay in Rwanda. Rawson participated in the International Observer Program as the initial U.S. observer in peace talks at Arusha, Tanzania, in 1992 and subsequently served as U.S. ambassador to Rwanda. As ambassador he finally witnessed the failure of the doomed Arusha agreements. Drawing on declassified documents and his own experi- ences, Rawson paints a revealing picture of struggling diplo- macy and the dire consequences of failed conflict resolution. Prelude to Genocide is a volume in the Diplomats and Diplo- macy Series of DACOR and the Association for Diplomatic Stud- ies and Training. David Rawson capped his 28-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service as ambassador to Rwanda (1993–1995) and to Mali (1996– 1999). Since his retirement from the Foreign Service, he has been a professor of political economy at Spring Arbor University and a distinguished visiting professor of politics at Hillsdale College, both near his home on the family farm in Michigan. Raising the Flag: America’s First Envoys in Faraway Lands Peter D. Eicher, Potomac Books, 2018, $36.95/hardcover, 416 pages. Peter Eicher tells the story of some of America’s earliest envoys and the unique challenges they faced repre- senting a newborn nation. Diplomats such as James Cathcart, Samuel Shaw, Edmund Roberts and others had to compete against more well- established foreign missions while explaining an experimental form of government known as American democracy to curious counterparts. “It is not intended to be a comprehensive history of early American diplomacy, but instead recounts individual experi- ences that illustrate the development of foreign policy and the growth of American influence around the world,” the author states of the book. As Raising the Flag documents, early Ameri- can envoys focused almost entirely on promoting U.S. exports and protecting American sailors and merchants all over the world, notes former FSJ editor and FSO Steve Honley in his review of the book in the September Journal . The stories of these individuals are drawn from thoroughly researched primary source material including official dis- patches to the State Department, letters, diaries, memoirs and travel logs. Far from a tale of elegant receptions and diplomatic decorum, the story of early American diplomacy was often one of disease, isolation and dangerous misunderstandings in foreign lands. Peter D. Eicher is a retired U.S. Foreign Service officer who served in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Pacific. He specialized in political affairs, particularly human rights, conflict resolution and international organizations. Eicher is the editor of “Emperor Dead” and Other Historic American Diplomatic Dispatches and Elections in Bangladesh, 2006–2009: Transforming Failure into Success. The Kremlinologist: Llewellyn E. Thompson, America’s Man in Cold War Moscow Jenny Thompson and Sherry Thompson, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018, $80.75/hardcover, $39.95/paperback, $39.95/Kindle, 600 pages. Against the sprawling backdrop of the Cold War, The Kremlinologist revisits some of the 20th century’s greatest conflicts as seen through the eyes of one of America’s hardest-working diplomats, Llewellyn E. Thompson. From the wilds of the American West to the inner sanctums of the White House and the Kremlin, Ambassador Thompson was an important adviser to presidents and a key participant in major global events, including the Cuban Missile Crisis and the VietnamWar. In vigorous prose, Thompson’s daughters Jenny and Sherry