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Present at the Footnote: Personal Commentary on American Diplomacy
In Present at the Footnote, Mattox writes about both the qualities and problems of foreign policy. He groups the articles by topics, rather than time periods, for example, Diplomacy as a Profession, Foreign Service Life, the Iraq War, and a Nigerian Interlude. He discusses past and present difficulties facing the United States and points up the thirst for knowledge and understanding of foreign policy. He elaborates on life in the Foreign Service, learning exactly what diplomacy means, readiness in any situation, even culture shock, and what challenges he faced, challenges that face all Foreign Service officers while dealing with crises in various postings around the world.
A retired U.S. diplomat and university lecturer, Henry Mattox served in the U.S. Foreign Service (1957–80) at seven posts. After retiring, he spent a year in Nigeria as a Fulbright senior lecturer and taught for fifteen years at North Carolina State University. In 1996, he co-founded the Internet journal American Diplomacy, which he edited for eleven years. Mattox holds a PhD in American history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has published four books and numerous scholarly articles.