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 Bill Burns, one of the most respected diplomats of the post-Cold War years, has now written what I regard as the best diplomatic memoir of that 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