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Now Available in Paperbackwith a new afterward by the authorOrder Now

The Back Channel

A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for Its Renewal
William J. Burns
Order Now
From America’s “secret diplomatic weapon” (The Atlantic)—a man who served five presidents and ten secretaries of state—comes an impassioned argument for the enduring value of diplomacy in an increasingly volatile world.

“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

In The Back Channel, Burns recounts, with novelistic detail and incisive analysis, some of the seminal moments of his career. Drawing on a trove of newly declassified cables and memos, he gives readers a rare inside look at American diplomacy in action. His dispatches from war-torn Chechnya and Qaddafi’s bizarre camp in the Libyan desert and his warnings of the “Perfect Storm” that would be unleashed by the Iraq War will reshape our understanding of history—and inform the policy debates of the future. Burns sketches the contours of effective American leadership in a world that resembles neither the zero-sum Cold War contest of his early years as a diplomat nor the “unipolar moment” of American primacy that followed. Ultimately, The Back Channel is an eloquent, deeply informed, and timely story of a life spent in service of American interests abroad. It is also a powerful reminder, in a time of great turmoil, of the enduring importance of diplomacy.
Order Now
The Archive

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

Advance Praise for The Back Channel

“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

Reviews

Washington Post
By David Ignatius
March 14, 2019

A “masterful diplomatic memoir” from “the very best diplomatic representative that America had in the years leading up to the great unraveling”.

New York Times
By Roger Cohen
June 28, 2019

A “wonderful memoir of a life in diplomacy” from “one of the finest Foreign Service officers of recent decades”.

Financial Times
By Lionel Barber
March 5, 2019

“...a plain spoken defense of an unfashionable craft,” Burns is “refreshingly candid about the use and abuse of US power”.

Foreign Affairs
By Walter Russell Mead
April 16, 2019

A “distinguished and varied” career recounted in a “lucid and panoramic memoir...”

Literary Review
By Raymond Seitz
April 2019

“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.”

The American Interest
Ivan Krastev & Leonard Bernardo
January 8, 2020

“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.”

Foreign Policy
By Jeremi Suri
April 17, 2019

“The ‘imaginative and hard-nosed diplomacy’ that Burns describes…should guide thinking about U.S. foreign policy as the country emerges from recent setbacks.”

National Review
By James Rosen
April 4, 2019

“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.”

The Irish Times
By Lara Marlowe
June 22, 2019

“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.”

Publisher’s Weekly
February 7, 2019

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.”

Kirkus Reviews
January 1, 2019

Recipient of the Kirkus Star for its “resounding defense of American diplomacy”.

The Cipher Brief
By Gary Grappo
April 16, 2019

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.”

Cairo Review
By Perry Cammack
Summer 2019

“required reading…[Burns] tells his story with grace and aplomb.”

Foreign Service Journal
By Robert M. Beecroft
Summer 2019

“There is something to learn, savor and take to heart on virtually every page.” (PDF, p.84)

Events

March 14
Politics & Prose

Washington, D.C.

March 18
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan

Ann Arbor, MI

March 26
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Washington, D.C.

March 27
Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University

Princeton, NJ

March 28
Harvard Kennedy School

Cambridge, MA

March 28
Tufts University

Medford, MA

March 30
BBC Free Thinking Festival

Newcastle, UK

April 1
Chatham House

London, UK

April 2
The Guardian Live

London, UK

April 4
London School of Economics and Political Science

London, UK

April 6
FT Weekend Oxford Literary Festival

Oxford, UK

April 8
School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

New York, NY

April 9
Jackson Insitute for Global Affairs, Yale University

New Haven, CT

April 11
Georgetown University

Washington, D.C.

April 16
Freeman Spogli Institute, Stanford University

Stanford, CA

April 17
Commonwealth Club

San Francisco, CA

April 23
Kramerbooks

Washington, D.C.

April 25
Dartmouth College

Hanover, NH

April 30
Baker Institute, Rice University

Houston, TX

May 1
Institute of Politics, University of Chicago

Chicago, IL

May 7
World Affairs Council

San Francisco, CA

May 9
Foreign Policy Association

New York, NY

May 10
The Common Good Forum

New York, NY

June 24
St. Louis County Library

St. Louis, MO

June 28
Chautauqua Institution

Chautauqua, NY

Order Now
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