The Foreign Service Journal, November 2021

72 NOVEMBER 2021 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL things, maps and introductions; information about routes and travel facilities; and descriptions of noteworthy buildings, sights, attractions and museums, written by specialists. Lawrence Dolan became interested in Baedekers while he was pursuing a Ph.D. in urban and regional planning. He began collecting the guides at that time and continued after he joined the Foreign Service and moved overseas. Over the years, he acquired more than 900 Baedekers, mostly though online purchases. He also came to appreciate the need to help buyers and sellers accurately assess the condition, completeness and rarity of these individual guides. This book provides a description of every Baedeker edition, summarizes prices that have been realized for the edition at eBay auctions, and then lists material in the front and back of each edition that is particularly susceptible to being lost. Lawrence Dolan worked for USAID for nearly 25 years, first as a personal services contractor program officer (1992- 2001). He joined the Foreign Service in 2001, serving as a program and education officer in Bangladesh, Ghana, Pakistan and Indonesia. In addition, he served as the USAID Pakistan desk officer in 2009 and 2010. He retired from USAID in 2016. Currently a graduate student in education technology at Northern Vermont University, he has created a website to demonstrate how Baedeker guides can be used as teaching tools in primary and secondary schools. He lives in Saint Jonesbury, Vermont. Annotated Bibliography of Pre-1945 Baedeker Guidebooks Lawrence Dolan, independently published, 2019, $9.95/paperback, e-book available, 202 pages. In this book, Lawrence Dolan profiles all pre-1945 Baedeker guidebooks. For every edition in English, French and German, the author supplies the following information: the name of the edition, the year of publication, the number of pages of introduction and text, and the number of maps and plans included. In addition, he offers commentary on many editions related to their contents and history. This information is likely to be of value to all who have an interest in old Baedekers, whether collectors or sellers. Coast Guard Academy— A User’s Guide Jock Whittlesey, independently published, 2021, $27/paperback, e-book available, 197 pages. While FSO Jock Whittlesey was serving in Beijing, his son Philip entered the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in the summer of 2016 and graduated in May 2020 as an ensign. This book, based on Jock’s experience as the parent of an academy cadet, seeks to describe and explain a unique and somewhat obscure institution to potential applicants and their families. Its 11 chapters, illustrated with handsome photographs of the campus, cover pretty much anything and everything readers could want to know about the Coast Guard Academy: its history, admissions process, daily activities (both before and after COVID-19, which changed many aspects of campus life), traditions (such as “Swab Summer,” the school’s mandatory boot camp for young men and women who have been selected to enter the academy, conducted prior to their first semester) and values. The book concludes with a helpful glossary and a bibliography that encompasses both printed and digital resources. All in all, Coast Guard Academy—A User’s Guide is an invaluable reference to help applicants, cadets and families understand, navigate and thrive in the special world of America’s smallest, most distinctive military academy. Jock Whittlesey served six overseas tours as a Foreign Service officer, focusing on environmental and science issues. He retired in 2018 and now works part-time in the Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Bureau as an editor for the annual Country Reports on Human Rights. He and his wife, Monique Wong, live in Jupiter, Florida. n