Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
“Bill Burns is simply one of the finest U.S. diplomats of the last half century. The Back Channel demonstrates his rare and precious combination of strategic insight and policy action.”— James A. Baker III
“The Back Channel shows how diplomacy works, why it matters, and why its recent demise is so tragic.”— Walter Isaacson
author of Leonardo da Vinci
“A smart, plainspoken account of America’s changing role in the world and the power and purpose of American diplomacy at its best.”— Hillary Clinton
“The Back Channel is an incisive and sorely needed case for the revitalization of diplomacy.”— Henry Kissinger
“The Back Channel is a masterfully written memoir from one of America’s most accomplished and respected diplomats.”— Madeleine K. Albright
“The Back Channel brings all the behind-the-scenes efforts into the light, and brings readers into the room to share the journey of a talented, tough-minded diplomat.”— John Kerry
“The Back Channel deserves to be widely read—it’s a great book filled with fascinating stories and the kind of wisdom that is sorely needed these days.”— George P. Shultz
“The best diplomatic memoir of the post-Cold War period.”— John Lewis Gaddis
Robert A. Lovett Professor of Military and Naval History
Yale University
“Burns’s compelling, fast-paced, and witty narrative is necessary reading for America’s next generation of diplomats.”— Condoleezza Rice
Browse an archive of nearly 100 newly declassified cables, memos, and emails from Ambassador Burns’s thirty-three-year career—a sample of one diplomat’s imperfect efforts to provide ground truths, strategic advice, and—on occasion—disciplined dissent.
Explore Now“Bill Burns is simply one of the finest U.S. diplomats of the last half century. The Back Channel demonstrates his rare and precious combination of strategic insight and policy action. It is full of riveting historical detail but also, more important, shrewd insights into how we can advance our interests and values in a world where U.S. leadership remains the linchpin of international order.”
—James A. Baker III
“Bill Burns is a stellar exemplar of the grand tradition of wise Americans who made our country the indispensable nation in this world. The Back Channel shows how diplomacy works, why it matters, and why its recent demise is so tragic.”
—Walter Isaacson, author of Leonardo da Vinci
“Bill Burns is a treasure of American diplomacy and a model of the American idea and spirit when we need it most. In The Back Channel, Burns provides another great act of public service by giving us a smart, plainspoken account of America’s changing role in the world and the power and purpose of American diplomacy at its best.”
—Hillary Clinton
“From one of America’s consummate diplomats, The Back Channel is an incisive and sorely needed case for the revitalization of diplomacy—what Burns wisely describes as our ‘tool of first resort.’”
—Henry Kissinger
“The Back Channel is a masterfully written memoir from one of America’s most accomplished and respected diplomats. Burns not only offers a vivid account of how American diplomacy works, he also puts forward a compelling vision for its future that will surely inspire new generations to follow his incredible example.”
—Madeleine K. Albright
“Told with humor and humility, The Back Channel brings all the behind-the-scenes efforts into the light, and brings readers into the room to share the journey of a talented, tough-minded diplomat par excellence who served as conduit and catalyst in making America stronger.”
—John Kerry
“The Back Channel deserves to be widely read—it’s a great book filled with fascinating stories and the kind of wisdom that is sorely needed these days.”
—George P. Shultz
“Burns has written the best diplomatic memoir of the post–Cold War period. Must reading for anyone looking back on an era that’s now ending, and for any young person looking forward to diplomacy as a profession in whatever era is likely to come.”
—John Lewis Gaddis, Robert A. Lovett Professor of Military and Naval History, Yale University
“An engaging tale of modern statecraft full of fascinating eyewitness accounts of several important events in modern international history . . . Burns’s compelling, fast-paced, and witty narrative is necessary reading for America’s next generation of diplomats.”
—Condoleezza Rice
A “masterful diplomatic memoir” from “the very best diplomatic representative that America had in the years leading up to the great unraveling”.
A “wonderful memoir of a life in diplomacy” from “one of the finest Foreign Service officers of recent decades”.
“...a plain spoken defense of an unfashionable craft,” Burns is “refreshingly candid about the use and abuse of US power”.
A “distinguished and varied” career recounted in a “lucid and panoramic memoir...”
“Make a little room on your library shelf for this essential book on American diplomacy…it belongs right up there with other works by Acheson and Kennan, Kissinger and Shultz.”
“Penned with lucidity, deep understanding, and elegance…a necessary corrective to a foreign policy predicated on conviction and moral rectitude...[Burns’s] realism is the antipode of cynicism or inaction.”
“The ‘imaginative and hard-nosed diplomacy’ that Burns describes…should guide thinking about U.S. foreign policy as the country emerges from recent setbacks.”
“The Back Channel enlightens and enriches, providing a wild ride through the elite precincts of Washington and foreign capitals. It is an essential volume on modern international relations.”
“Burns will be remembered as a consummate diplomat, on a par with the legendary George Kennan. His beautifully written book, rich in pen portraits, anecdote and description, is also a meticulous record of three and a half decades of diplomatic history.”
Recipient of the Publisher’s Weekly Star: “Burns’s work showcases an impressive combination of dedication, passion, and diligence, and persuasively demonstrates the ‘quiet power’ that diplomacy can have in world affairs. This is not to be missed.”
Recipient of the Kirkus Star for its “resounding defense of American diplomacy”.
A “close-up, almost in-the-room sharing of the last four decades’ most historic events in foreign and national security policy...worth reading and re-reading by anyone responsible for, or involved in, foreign policy.”
“required reading…[Burns] tells his story with grace and aplomb.”
“There is something to learn, savor and take to heart on virtually every page.” (PDF, p.84)
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In a complex, changing, and increasingly contested world, the Carnegie Endowment generates strategic ideas and independent analysis, supports diplomacy, and trains the next generation of international scholar-practitioners to help countries and institutions take on the most difficult global problems and safeguard peace.
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