War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence

W. W. Norton & Company, 2018. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Good. A harrowing exploration of the collapse of American diplomacy and the abdic ation of global leadership, by the winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Pub lic Service. US foreign policy is undergoing a dire transformation, forever changing Ame rica's place in the world. Institutions of diplomacy and development are bl eeding out after deep budget cuts; the diplomats who make America's deals a nd protect its citizens around the world are walking out in droves. Offices across the State Department sit empty, while abroad the military-industria l complex has assumed the work once undertaken by peacemakers. We're becomi ng a nation that shoots first and asks questions later. In an astonishing journey from the corridors of power in Washington, DC, to some of the most remote and dangerous places on earthâ??Afghanistan, Somal ia, and North Korea among themâ??acclaimed investigative journalist Ronan F arrow illuminates one of the most consequential and poorly understood chang es in American history. His firsthand experience as a former State Departme nt official affords a personal look at some of the last standard bearers of traditional statecraft, including Richard Holbrooke, who made peace in Bos nia and died while trying to do so in Afghanistan. Drawing on newly unearthed documents, and richly informed by rare interviews with warlords, whistle-blowers, and policymakersâ??including every living former secretary of state from Henry Kissinger to Hillary Clinton to Rex Tillersonâ??War on Peace makes a powerful case for an endangered profession. Diplomacy, Farrow argues, has declined after decades of political cowardice, shortsightedness, and ou.