Recent Books
172 «¬® ̄°±² ³««³°® ́
The United States
Jessica T. Mathews
The Ambassadors: America’s Diplomats on
the Front Lines
BY PAUL RICHTER. Simon &
Schuster, 2019, 352 pp.I
n a book that straddles history and
biography, Richter follows the
careers o¤ four extraordinary U.S.
diplomats: Ryan Crocker, Robert
Ford, Anne Patterson, and J. Christo-
pher Stevens, who between them held
14 ambassadorships and deputy chie
o mission posts in the greater Middle
East. They served mostly in war-torn
states, such as Afghanistan, Iraq,
Libya (where Stevens was killed in an
attack on the U.S. mission in Ben-
ghazi in 2012), and Syria. Both the
George W. Bush and the Obama
administrations recognized the unique
knowledge and abilities o these
diplomats, asking them to return again
and again to dangerous, chaotic
situations in the region. The ambassa-
dors practiced what Richter calls a
“new diplomacy o the front lines,”
working closely with their military
counterparts. Even so, all four fre-
quently had to decide whether to
continue working in service o what
they considered “disastrous policy
blunders,” and as o¾cials in Washing-
ton often ignored their advice. Richter
embeds the stories o the four diplo-
mats in a broader narrative that
follows oundering U.S. policies in
the Middle East. His book is at oncebombing and its aftermath through the
experiences o many o those involved,
including the writers Victor Klemperer
and Kurt Vonnegut, who had recently
been taken prisoner by the Germans in
the Battle o the Bulge. McKay ends on
a positive note, describing the recon-
struction o the city and its more recent
role in eorts at reconciliation.
The Taliban at War, 2001–2018
BY ANTONIO GIUSTOZZI. Hurst,
2019, 384 pp.
Giustozzi provides a detailed and dense
account o the Taliban’s resilience. He
shows how the group persevered and
regrouped after both the U.S.-led
invasion o Afghanistan in 2001 and the
“surge” o U.S. troops in 2009, under
the Obama administration. Based on
many conversations with former and
current members o the organization,
this study is an important contribution
to the history o the American-led war
in Afghanistan. Giustozzi explores how
the Taliban ¥nanced their campaigns,
raised the morale o their members, and
managed the tensions among a variety
o distinct factions within the group.