28 NOVEMBER 2024 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL the Harvard Kennedy School and Brigham Young University and is a graduate of the National War College. An earlier book by Cleverley, Born a Soldier (2008), was a bestseller in Finland and Sweden, and was runner-up for the Next Generation Indie Book Award in both the history and biography categories. Behind the White House Curtain: A Senior Journalist’s Story of Covering the President— and Why It Matters Steven L. Herman, Kent State University Press, 2024, $29.95/ hardcover, e-book available, 248 pages. Author Steven Herman combines memoir and history to pull back the curtain on the inner workings of the White House press corps, giving readers a rare glimpse into the historical and current relationship between the president and the press. He re ects on the experience of reporting on a president who once called journalists “enemies of the people”—and indeed, former President Trump singled out Voice of America (VOA), accusing the organization of being not a voice of America but rather a voice supporting Moscow’s and Beijing’s interests. Under questionable circumstances, top VOA executives lost their security clearances, and a dossier was prepared on Herman in an e ort to remove him as White House bureau chief. Herman convincingly argues that public access to accurate, unbiased information is essential to a healthy and peaceful democracy, and that journalists can and should play a key role in pressing government o cials to be truthful and transparent. Steven Herman is an active-duty Foreign Service o cer with the U.S. Agency for Global Media and is VOA’s chief national correspondent. He also served on the AFSA Governing Board for eight years, stepping down in October 2024. For a more detailed review of his book, see the June 2024 Foreign Service Journal. Passports and Parasites: An Extraordinary Journey of Adventure, Resilience, and Healing Vashti Kanahele, independently published, 2023, $16.99/paperback, e-book available, 390 pages. is memoir from Diplomatic Security spouse Vashti Kanahele is full of adventure, travel, and raw, un ltered moments from 15 years spent living overseas. From war-torn Baghdad to the sunny Caribbean and multiple countries in between, Kanahele shares details from an adventurous life she never foresaw herself living. She writes about struggles familiar to FS spouses, like the need to reinvent herself with every move, and more personal struggles with infertility, Lyme disease, and Hashimoto’s disease, sharing how she has been able to live with and overcome complex chronic illnesses while serving overseas. Vashti Kanahele is the spouse of Kraig Kanahele, who joined Diplomatic Security in 2002, and has been posted to Baghdad; Beirut; Phnom Penh; Dallas, Texas; Lagos; Willemstad; and Washington, D.C. ey plan to move to Cairo in July 2025. Episodes from a Foreign Service Career: Africa, Democracy and Public Diplomacy Robert LaGamma, Palmetto Publishing, 2024, $15.99/paperback, print only, 348 pages. In Episodes from a Foreign Service Career, author Robert LaGamma invites readers into his life as a U.S. diplomat. In a career that spanned more than three decades, LaGamma served in nine African nations and Italy, culminating in his tenure in South Africa during Nelson Mandela’s rst year as president of that country. He writes about the intricacies of diplomatic negotiations and the challenges of advocating for democracy in nations grappling with change. LaGamma also writes about his post-retirement work leading missions for the National Democratic Institute in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Carter Center in Nigeria. He was also director of the Council for the Community of Democracies. Robert LaGamma is a retired Foreign Service o cer who joined the United States Information Agency (USIA) in 1963
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