In A Professional Foreigner (Potomac Books/U of Nebraska Press), volume #74 in the Diplomats and Diplomacy Series, Ambassador Edward Marks describes his life as a workaday American professional diplomat, including several close encounters with the U.S. military. Serving primarily in Africa and Asia, Marks was present during the era of decolonization in Africa (but always seemed to be at the opposite end of the continent from the hottest developments); was intimately involved in the early days of the U.S. government’s antiterrorism programs; observed the unfolding of a nasty and tragic ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka; saw the end of the Cold War at UN headquarters in New York; and returned to active duty postretirement on assignment to the U.S. Pacific Command at Pearl Harbor. Along the way he served as the U.S. ambassador to Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde.

Marks portrays Foreign Service officers––what we think and what we do all day. It’s just that we do this in other people’s countries, he says, and therein lies the charm and distinction of the life of the professional diplomat.