Anyone who thinks diplomacy is about choosing the right fork at the right time should think again and read James O'Callaghan’s clever satire No Circuses (Tacchino Press, 2015). Forget preconceived notions of dinner-party diplomacy: keeping one’s elbows off the table, tangoing the rival into submission, and writing it up the next day in communiqués to DC. What diplomacy’s really about, in O’Callaghan’s world, … Continue reading Review: Foreign Service Fiction
Diplomat
Review: Shattered Glass–The Story of a Marine Embassy Guard
I picked up Greg Matos’ Shattered Glass—The Story of a Marine Embassy Guard with a narrow purpose. I wanted to read about the December 2004 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. I wanted to know what it felt like to be the Marine standing Post when five heavily armed terrorists stormed our compound, killing … Continue reading Review: Shattered Glass–The Story of a Marine Embassy Guard
Ben East or Ben East?
The University of New Haven posted this article today: WEST HAVEN, CONN. --- Look up Ben East on Amazon and adventure books pop out at you. But it’s not THAT Ben East – an American outdoorsman and writer throughout much of the last century – that we are talking about. We’re talking about Ben East, … Continue reading Ben East or Ben East?
ONE DEAD COP
Taillights cut a pool of red in the dark where three African heavies in police uniform manned the makeshift roadblock. A fourth figure loomed over the driver-side door two cars up. The cops held their rifles clumsily. Probably they were cops, Raines thought. Criminals in the West African Republic handled weapons better than the police … Continue reading ONE DEAD COP
ONE DEAD COP
Taillights cut a pool of red in the dark where three African heavies in police uniform manned the makeshift roadblock. A fourth figure loomed over the driver-side door two cars up. The cops held their rifles clumsily. Probably they were cops, Raines thought. Criminals in the West African Republic handled weapons better than the police … Continue reading ONE DEAD COP
Ben East Books 
