من أمريكا مع الحب

So in my abroad blog turned travel advice blog turned grad school and fellowship application update blog, I’ve now advanced to the next stage of blogging. I guess it now stands that I’ll write about a combination of travel (oh haaay, 1 month til Europe!), advice on grad school, and my process leading up to joining the Foreign Service as a Pickering Fellow. Every great project can use a little reinvention now and again, right? In this vein, I’d like to share about a little summer reading - Harry Kopp and Charles Gillespie’s Career Diplomacy: Life and Work in the U.S. Foreign Service.

An easy and insightful read, I highly recommend the book to anyone interested in joining the Foreign Service. From an overview of the organization’s history to the current testing procedures and application process, these two former FSOs also include descriptions of the various career cones and little known facts about the American diplomatic service. For example, did you know that Henry Kissinger’s wife was the one to suggest color coding the corridors at Main State to prevent people from getting lost in the labyrinth of identical hallways? Or that Foreign Service Officers don’t just serve in the Department of State but also in Commerce, Agriculture, and USAID? The book also includes appendices on Foreign Service Core Precepts and an extensive glossary so you can speak like a real State Dept employee - aka only in acronyms.

The book’s website sums up the book material concisely and accurately:

Career Diplomacy is a candid discussion of the challenges facing this country’s diplomats, including tension between politics and professionalism; maintaining credibility when policies change; dealing with Congress on policy, legislation, and budgets; and working in Washington and the field with other U.S. government agencies and with the U.S. military. Career Diplomacy educates its readers about those who advance and protect U.S. interests around the globe. The book details who America’s professional diplomats are, their purpose and achievements, and the culture in which they operate.

I loved it. You’ll love it. And my next book is Foreign Service oriented too so stay tuned!