Description
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThe Dissent Papers is an outstanding account of dissent in the State Department since the Second World War. I know of no other work that treats the issue in this synoptic manner. The volume's later chapters present new material in a particularly subtle and provocative way. The book is fresh, unique, and stimulating. -- Frank Ninkovich, St. John's University, author of Global Dawn: The Cultural Foundation of American Imperialism, 1865-1890 Hannah Gurman's approach and evidence are fresh and original. She brings disparate yet connected stories together to show how diplomats used the primary tool given to them: language. -- Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman, San Diego State University, author of Broken Promises: A Novel of the Civil War ...well-researched and spared of academic jargon... -- John H. Brown American Diplomacy ...a welcome celebration of elegent prose and careful analysis. -- Laura Belmonte H-Diplo Roundtable One of the best compliments that can be paid to a book is to say that it made the reader think and this book certainly accomplished that. -- Javan Frazier H-War Fluent and insightful, The Dissent Papers is a highly impressive debut. -- David Milne American Historical Review
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. The Pen as Sword: George Kennan and the Politics of Authorship in the Early Cold War 2. "Learn to Write Well" The China Hands and the Communist-ification of Diplomatic Reporting 3. Revising the Vietnam Balance Sheet: The Rhetorical Logic of Escalation Versus George Ball's Writerly Logic of Diplomacy 4. The Other Plumbers Unit: The Dissent Channel of the U.S. State Department Conclusion. The Life After: From Internal Dissenter to Public Prophet Notes Bibliography Index
