Memoirs of Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry; Pakistani diplomat.

Pramudith D Rupasinghe was born in Gampaha, Sri Lanka. His multi-disciplinary academic excellence in clinical psychology, political science, development studies and humanitarian diplomacy along with linguistic competency in English, French and Russian paved his path to enter the humanitarian arena. His humanitarian service has been extended to many parts of the world working with various organizations including the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and the United Nations. ''Footprints in obscurity'' is the refreshing experience of a brave young man who stepped in to the unknown a decade and a half ago. The author takes a walk down memory lane as he vividly narrates a series of real stories that are interconnected and built around lives of men and women whom he had the rare opportunity to witness first hand. A boy who was dreaming to discover the imaginary world that conquered his mind when his father was relating 'free-time' stories realizes his dream after three decades, breaking frontiers and overcoming diverse hurdles on the way. He brings out the voices that were destined to be silent for ever to the attention of the world audience in a forceful manner. ''Footprints in obscurity' can be introduced as an impressive effort by the author not only to narrate a true story about Africa but also to bring to light on how childhood dreams shape one's adult life. Surein Peiris Senior Officer Humanitarian Diplomacy, IFRC Geneva

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When American forces arrived in Vietnam, they found themselves embedded in historic village and frontier spaces already shaped by many past conflicts. American bases and bombing targets followed spatial and political logics influenced by the footprints of past wars in central Vietnam. The militarized landscapes here, like many in the world�s historic conflict zones, continue to shape post-war land-use politics. Footprints of War traces the long history of conflict-produced spaces in Vietnam, beginning with early modern wars and the French colonial invasion in 1885 and continuing through the collapse of the Saigon government in 1975. The result is a richly textured history of militarized landscapes that reveals the spatial logic of key battles such as the Tet Offensive. Drawing on extensive archival work and years of interviews and fieldwork in the hills and villages around the city of Hue to illuminate war�s footprints, David Biggs also integrates historical Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data, using aerial, high-altitude, and satellite imagery to render otherwise placeless sites into living, multidimensional spaces. This personal and multilayered approach yields an innovative history of the lasting traces of war in Vietnam and a model for understanding other militarized landscapes.

Begun as the United States moved its armed forces into Iraq, Rashid Khalidi's powerful and thoughtful new book examines the record of Western involvement in the region and analyzes the likely outcome of our most recent Middle East incursions. Drawing on his encyclopedic knowledge of the political and cultural history of the entire region as well as interviews and documents, Khalidi paints a chilling scenario of our present situation and yet offers a tangible alternative that can help us find the path to peace rather than Empire. We all know that those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Sadly, as Khalidi reveals with clarity and surety, America's leaders seem blindly committed to an ahistorical path of conflict, occupation, and colonial rule. Our current policies ignore rather than incorporate the lessons of experience. American troops in Iraq have seen first hand the consequences of U.S. led "democratization" in the region. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict seems intractable, and U.S. efforts in recent years have only inflamed the situation. The footprints America follows have led us into the same quagmire that swallowed our European forerunners. Peace and prosperity for the region are nowhere in sight. This cogent and highly accessible book provides the historical and cultural perspective so vital to understanding our present situation and to finding and pursuing a more effective and just foreign policy.

Huijgh’s comprehensive analysis of the domestic dimension of public diplomacy includes five case studies on North America, Europa and the Asia-Pacific. The author views public diplomacy’s international and domestic dimensions as stepping stones on a continuum of public participation.

Cultural Diplomacy: Beyond the National Interest? is the first book bringing together, from the perspective of the cultural disciplines, scholarship that locates contemporary cultural diplomacy practices within their social, political, and ideological contexts, while examining the different forces that drive them. The contributions to this book have two methodologies: the first, to deconstruct and demystify cultural diplomacy, notably the ‘hype’ that accompanies it, especially when it is yoked to the notion of ‘soft power’; the second, to better understand how contemporary cultural diplomacy actually operates. In applying a cultural lens to the question, this book probes whether there can be such a thing as a cultural diplomacy ‘beyond the national interest’. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Cultural Policy.