‘Ambassadors have no battleships at their disposal, or heavy infantry, or fortresses,” wrote Demosthenes nearly 2,500 years ago. “Their weapons are words and opportunities.”
Few contemporary observers defend the vanishing art of diplomacy as eloquently and persuasively as A. Wess Mitchell, who served as a high-ranking State Department official in the first Trump administration. His new book offers a riveting tour of hinge historical moments when skilled emissaries wielded “words and opportunities” in the service of their countries and, at times, the broader international system.
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