This action-packed memoir by a leading American diplomat provides provocative reflections on events and leaders, American and foreign, 1959 to 1989. Over the course of his career, Ambassador Dean found himself embroiled in controversy in hot spots in Asia and the Middle East. Serving several stints in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, he worked on development projects in all three countries and with the U.S. military in Central Vietnam in the early 1970s. He brokered the deal that ended the war in Laos and faced down an attempted coup d'etat in 1973 against the neutralist regime of Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma. As ambassador in Cambodia, he was the last man out on April 12, 1975, as the last helicopter left Phnom Penh and Khmer Rouge forces approached the city. He was notably willing to work with anyone and everyone-communists and capitalists, diplomats and spies, urbanites and peasants, entrenched leaders and emerging reformers, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists. A thoroughly readable, even fascinating, account of Dean’s life and experiences as one of America’s top twentieth-century diplomats.
Robert V. Keeley, author, publisher, career diplomat, and former U.S. ambassador to Greece. Dean’s career reflects his strongly held belief that America should lead through the good example of its own principled behavior and decency, not through brute force and threats.
John V. Whitbeck, international lawyer and author of The World According to Whitbeck. Ambassador Dean comes across in this memoir as exactly what he is Ambassador Dean comes across in this memoir as exactly what he is Ambassador Dean comes across in this memoir as exactly what he is a dedicated and talented man deeply proud of his record in the practice of American diplomacy.
Bruce Laingen, U.S. ambassador (ret.) and former president, American Academy of Diplomacy.