Welcome to the American Embassy


Book Description







The Obama Legacy


Book Description

“Hope” and “change” were the keywords of President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, and in his farewell address on January 10, 2017, he cited the evidence that he’d delivered—from reversing the Great Recession, rebooting the auto industry, and unleashing the longest stretch of job creation in the nation’s history to winning marriage equality and securing the right to health insurance for another 20 million citizens. At the same time, and with a view to the country’s divisive polarization, he made a plea for “the decency of our people” and “the sense of common purpose that we so badly need right now.” In hindsight, it is increasingly possible to understand whether and how Obama’s legacy matched his rhetoric as well as to evaluate from various angles what his presidency accomplished and what this has meant for US politics, public policy, and civic life going forward. In The Obama Legacy some of the leading observers and scholars of US politics take up this challenge. In twelve essays these writers examine Obama’s choices, operating style, and opportunities taken and missed as well as the institutional and political constraints on the president’s policy agenda. What were Obama’s personal characteristics as a leader? What were the policy aspirations, output, and strategy of his presidency? What was his role as a political and public leader to the various constituencies needed to generate presidential power? And how did his presidency interact with other political forces? Addressing these questions and others, the authors analyze Obama’s preferences, tactics, successes, and shortcomings with an eye toward balancing the personal and institutional factors that underlie each—all the while considering how resilient or fragile Obama’s legacy will be in the face of the Trump administration’s eager efforts to dismantle it.




After We Kill You, We Will Welcome You Back as Honored Guests


Book Description

An unflinching account—in words and pictures—of America's longest war by our most outspoken graphic journalist Ted Rall traveled deep into Afghanistan—without embedding himself with U.S. soldiers, without insulating himself with flak jackets and armored SUVs—where no one else would go (except, of course, Afghans). He made two long trips: the first in the wake of 9/11, and the next ten years later to see what a decade of U.S. occupation had wrought. On the first trip, he shouted his dispatches into a satellite phone provided by a Los Angeles radio station, attempting to explain that the booming in the background—and sometimes the foreground—were the sounds of an all-out war that no one at home would entirely own up to. Ten years later, the alternative newspapers and radio station that had financed his first trip could no longer afford to send him into harm's way, so he turned to Kickstarter to fund a groundbreaking effort to publish online a real-time blog of graphic journalism (essentially, a nonfiction comic) documenting what was really happening on the ground, filed daily by satellite. The result of this intrepid reporting is After We Kill You, We Will Welcome You Back as Honored Guests—a singular account of one determined journalist's effort to bring the realities of life in twenty-first-century Afghanistan to the world in the best way he knows how: a mix of travelogue, photography, and award-winning comics.




Americans in Waiting


Book Description

Although America is unquestionably a nation of immigrants, its immigration policies have inspired more questions than consensus on who should be admitted and what the path to citizenship should be. In Americans in Waiting, Hiroshi Motomura looks to a forgotten part of our past to show how, for over 150 years, immigration was assumed to be a transition to citizenship, with immigrants essentially being treated as future citizens--Americans in waiting. Challenging current conceptions, the author deftly uncovers how this view, once so central to law and policy, has all but vanished. Motomura explains how America could create a more unified society by recovering this lost history and by giving immigrants more, but at the same time asking more of them. A timely, panoramic chronicle of immigration and citizenship in the United States, Americans in Waiting offers new ideas and a fresh perspective on current debates.




Embassy of the Dead: Hangman's Crossing


Book Description

Jake is in a race against time to foil a demon-riddled plot to destroy earth—what a way to start his new job at the Embassy of the Dead! The second book of this spookily funny trilogy. In return for helping Stiffkey the ghost pass into the Afterworld, Jake Green has been awarded an official position at the Embassy of the Dead, a job he didn’t ask for and, to be honest, doesn’t necessarily want. But saying no to the Embassy isn’t really an option, so now Jake must journey even deeper into the mysterious world of ghosts. What should be a routine Undoing takes a turn when Jake overhears a plot to destroy the very fabric between the worlds of the living and the dead. Can he do the impossible and stop the terror that creeps in the Eternal Void? With the help of his ghostly gang—hockey stick–wielding Cora and Zorro the fox—he’s going to try. Hijinks from beyond the grave will tingle readers’ spines and tickle their funny bones as the Embassy of the Dead trilogy continues.




Embassies Under Siege


Book Description

In Embassies Under Siege, eyewitnesses present nine representative crises in vivid detail, examining the recurring challenges posed to diplomatic missions. The authors, all career Foreign Service officers, provide more than just frightening firsthand accounts of vulnerable people facing great peril. They also suggest useful lessons for protecting diplomatic personnel abroad. Many of these suggestions have already been implemented, and as old problems continue and new crises develop, the lessons learned from these cases prove invaluable. Through stories of great physical courage, professionalism, and resourcefulness, Embassies Under Siege paints a clear picture of the unique type of individual serving in the Foreign Service today.




The Architecture of Diplomacy


Book Description

The Architecture of Diplomacy reveals the complex interplay of architecture, politics, and power in the history of America's embassy-building program. Through colorful personalities, bizarre episodes, and high drama this compelling story takes readers from scandalous "inspection" junkets by members of Congress to bugged offices at the Moscow embassy to the daring rescue of American personnel in Somalia by Marines and Navy Seals. Rigorously researched and lucidly written, The Architecture of Diplomacy focuses on the embassy-building program during the Cold War years, when the United States initiated a massive construction campaign that would demonstrate its commitment to its allies and assert its presence as a superpower.




The Monk of Mokha


Book Description

The Monk of Mokha is the exhilarating true story of a young Yemeni American man, raised in San Francisco, who dreams of resurrecting the ancient art of Yemeni coffee but finds himself trapped in Sana’a by civil war. Mokhtar Alkhanshali is twenty-four and working as a doorman when he discovers the astonishing history of coffee and Yemen’s central place in it. He leaves San Francisco and travels deep into his ancestral homeland to tour terraced farms high in the country’s rugged mountains and meet beleagured but determined farmers. But when war engulfs the country and Saudi bombs rain down, Mokhtar has to find a way out of Yemen without sacrificing his dreams or abandoning his people.




Let My People Know


Book Description

Aryeh Lightstone, former Senior Advisor to the U.S. Ambassador to Israel and Special Envoy for the Abraham Accords, is uniquely poised to unravel the past, present, and, most importantly, the future of U.S. foreign policy with the Middle East. "A powerful affirmation of humanity’s capacity to achieve the extraordinary." —Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor to the President, 2017-2021 "Aryeh demonstrates that faithful adherence to one’s core beliefs—in both his faith and his nation—are not only possible but necessary. Read and enjoy." —Mike Pompeo, U.S. Secretary of State, 2018-2021 The Trump Administration's "Peace to Prosperity" vision for the Middle East was unveiled on January 28, 2020. What followed over the next eleven months, concluding with the signing of the Israel-Morocco normalization agreement was one of the most fascinating and consequential periods of U.S. foreign policy in a generation, leading to five normalization agreements between Israel and Muslim states. The Abraham Accords achieved what had seemed impossible for decades and set the Middle East on a trajectory toward a broad regional peace. Aryeh Lightstone is uniquely positioned to tell the story. As the senior advisor to the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, he was in the room for nearly every major discussion and decision involving Middle East policy. He was tasked with the most complex and sensitive component of the Abraham Accords: turning them into practical action and doing it quickly—during a pandemic, no less. In addition, he led the Abraham Accords Business Summit and the Abraham Fund, and served as the key contact between Israel and the other Accords nations. Let My People Know provides a behind-the-scenes account of the strategies that allowed the Abraham Accords to be struck, and an unvarnished look at the region's idiosyncrasies that factored into the process. A rabbi and an enthralling storyteller, Lightstone paints a vivid picture of the varied cultures and personalities involved. He also offers a glimpse into the day-to-day activities of an embassy. Finally, he explains what the Biden administration must do better to advance America's interests abroad. We now have a paradigm for a forward-looking Middle East policy that ultimately benefits the United States. Lightstone makes the case for strategic action to maintain the momentum.