Beyond the Age of Innocence: Rebuilding Trust Between America and the World

Kishore Mahbubani

Is there a public diplomacy remedy for betrayal? 

Kishore Mahbubani’s Beyond the Age of Innocence: Rebuilding Trust Between America and the World attempts, with honesty, eloquence and heart, to answer this question.  Published in 2005, when anti-American sentiment was, according to many polls, increasing rapidly, Mahbubani’s analysis of America’s impact on the world, is an invaluable read for global leaders and the general public alike.  For those still asking, “why do ‘they’ hate us?” this book offers a perspective from the proverbial ‘they’. 

Japan’s Cultural Diplomacy

Kazuo Ogoura

Japan Foundation president Kazuo Ogoura has held high posts in his country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has served as Japan’s ambassador to Vietnam, South Korea, and France.  His diplomatic experience infuses Japan’s Cultural Diplomacy with pragmatic recognition of the value and the limits of cultural diplomacy.

Hidden Power

This week I’m obsessed with the notion of Hidden Power. Am reading Kati Marton’s most excellent book on the subject, which focuses on Presidential marriages that shaped our nation’s history. Read More

BATTLES TO BRIDGES: U.S. Strategic Communication and Public Diplomacy after 9/11

R. S. Zaharna

The September 11, 2001 attacks stirred Americans to consider the possibility that the United States is not the center of the universe and that there might be, as R.S. Zaharna notes, a “connection between America’s image and its security.”  Doing something about this, said 9/11 Commission co-chair Lee Hamilton, is “how we stop them from coming here to kill us.”

Getting it Right Down Under?

In my recent book touring travels down under, I was struck repeatedly by the sense in which New Zealand and Australia seem for a North American at once remote yet accessible, exotic yet familiar. Read More

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