Foreign Service: Five decades on the frontlines of American diplomacy

At this Brookings Book Club event, author James Dobbins discussed his new memoir “Foreign Service” with New York Times White House correspondent Peter Baker.

From Vietnam in the 1960s to the current war in Afghanistan, James Dobbins was on the frontline of American diplomacy, working to advance U.S. national interests in some of the world’s most difficult and troubled situations. Dobbins takes the reader behind the scenes at the Vietnam peace talks, the darkest days of the Cold War, the reunification of Germany, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the U.S. military interventions in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Haiti, Kosovo, and Somalia. He provides a thoughtful insider’s account of all these ventures, analyzes sources of both success and failure, and provides incisive portraits of many of the chief actors.