Main Page | Month Archive | Library | Email Updates | RSS Feed

AMERICA’S DIALOGUE WITH THE WORLD: A REVIEW ESSAY
By William P. Kiehl


Reviewed by Patricia Kushlis
MAR 29, 2007

This review first appeared on WhirledView. The Public Diplomacy Council’s book America’s Dialogue with the World is to be released today—Wednesday, December 6—in a launching at Washington, D.C.‘s prestigious National Press Club. This coincides, unfortunately, with the MSM’s feeding frenzy revolving around the release of the Iraq Study Group’s long awaited assessment of what went wrong in Iraq and how to fix it—much of which had been leaked already. In fact, both of these problems need serious attention, and now. The question this latest work published by the Public Diplomacy Council asks—and proposes remedies for—is what went wrong with America’s image abroad and what can we do about it. The Council’s first publishing endeavor was the well received Engaging the Arab & Islamic Worlds through Public Diplomacy edited by William A. Rugh and released in 2004. Most chapters in the Council’s latest readable, 194 page book follow the format of a conference on public diplomacy which the organization held in October 2005. A few additional chapters have been added to fill in gaps. The book’s introduction and conclusion were written by the Council’s Executive Director, retired veteran U.S. Foreign Service Officer William P. Kiehl. The appendices feature a report and five recommendations from the Council on what needs to be done to improve America’s image abroad, a dissenting report by four of the 20 member Council and a transcript of remarks by Karen Hughes, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, at that October conference. This book is written primarily by American practitioners—most, but not all of whom—are specialists in the field. Although I have never met several of the authors, others are former colleagues whom I knew in various capacities during my 27 plus year career (1970-1998) with the U.S. Information Agency (1953-99). The Agency, established by then President Dwight D. Eisenhower, was the “keeper” and coordinator of America’s image abroad during most of the Cold War. America’s Dialogue with the World is not a text book for a college class—although specific chapters could form part of an instructor’s reading list. It is not a “how to do it” manual for “wannabe” public diplomacy specialists or a preparatory book for the Foreign Service exam. It is also not an exercise in political partisanship. Moreover, it is not a theoretical treatise designed for academicians. So, what is it? I think it is meant for Americans who are seriously concerned about the poor U.S. image abroad and want to understand—beyond the headlines and the reports—what went wrong and what needs to happen to rectify the problem. As certain authors of this book contend as I do, administration policies particularly, but not exclusively, towards the Middle East—read foremost Iraq and Israel-Palestine—are the Gargantuan problems, but the other is that the structure and the process of the means by which the U.S. tended and marketed America’s image abroad were decimated after the end of the Cold War. This happened as part of the “Peace Dividend.” They were never restored-even in the aftermath…...  -->

Call for Book Reviews The USC Center on Public Diplomacy invites book reviews submission from scholars, researchers, practitioners and professionals. To read the Call for Book Reviews, click here