The Good American: The Epic Life of Bob Gersony, the U.S. Government's Greatest Humanitarian

The Good American: The Epic Life of Bob Gersony, the U.S. Government's Greatest Humanitarian
ISBN-10
0525512322
ISBN-13
9780525512325
Category
History
Pages
544
Language
English
Published
2021-01-26
Publisher
Random House
Author
Robert D. Kaplan

Description

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Revenge of Geography comes a sweeping yet intimate story of the most influential humanitarian you’ve never heard of—Bob Gersony, who spent four decades in crisis zones around the world. “This graceful study of a courageous and humble man reminds us that history can be made, and lives can be saved, by diplomats who know how to reconcile the good with the possible.”—Timothy Snyder, author of The Road to Unfreedom and On Tyranny In his long career as an acclaimed journalist covering the “hot” moments of the Cold War and its aftermath, bestselling author Robert D. Kaplan often found himself crossing paths with Bob Gersony, a consultant for the U.S. State Department whose quiet dedication and consequential work made a deep impression on Kaplan. Gersony, a high school dropout later awarded a Bronze Star for his service in Vietnam, conducted on-the-ground research for the U.S. government in virtually every war and natural-disaster zone in the world. In Thailand, Central and South America, Sudan, Chad, Mozambique, Rwanda, Gaza, Bosnia, North Korea, Iraq, and beyond, Gersony never flinched from entering dangerous areas that diplomats could not reach, sometimes risking his own life. Gersony’s behind-the scenes fact-finding, which included interviews with hundreds of refugees and displaced persons from each war zone and natural-disaster area, often challenged the assumptions and received wisdom of the powers that be, on both the left and the right. In nearly every case, his advice and recommendations made American policy at once smarter and more humane—often dramatically so. In Gersony, Kaplan saw a powerful example of how American diplomacy should be conducted. In a work that exhibits Kaplan’s signature talent for combining travel and geography with sharp political analysis, The Good American tells Gersony’s powerful life story. Set during the State Department’s golden age, this is a story about the loneliness, sweat, and tears and the genuine courage that characterized Gersony’s work in far-flung places. It is also a celebration of ground-level reporting: a page-turning demonstration, by one of our finest geopolitical thinkers, of how getting an up-close, worm’s-eye view of crises and applying sound reason can elicit world-changing results.

Other editions

Similar books

  • A Good American
    By Alex George

    And so began my grandfather’s rapturous love affair with America—an affair that would continue until the day he died. This is the story of the Meisenheimer family, told by James, a third-generation American living in Beatrice, Missouri.

  • A Good American Family: The Red Scare and My Father
    By David Maraniss

    ... 56 organizations joined by, 53, 55, 322 payoff fee and, 250, 321 Pearson and, 250–51, 320–21 Robinson and, 41–42, ... 161, 165 U.S. neutrality and, 140–43, 145 World Youth Festival, 333 Wright, Frank Lloyd, 349 Wright, Richard, 75, ...

  • A Good American Family: The Red Scare and My Father
    By David Maraniss

    A Good American Family powerfully evokes the political dysfunctions of the 1950s while underscoring what it really means to be an American.

  • Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness
    By Elizabeth D. Samet

    A stirring indictment of American sentimentality about war.” —Robert G. Kaiser, The Washington Post In Looking for the Good War, Elizabeth D. Samet reexamines the literature, art, and culture that emerged after World War II, bringing ...

  • Good Americans: The Human Tragedy
    By Tejas Desai

    In the tradition of Mark Twain, Sinclair Lewis, and William Faulkner, this groundbreaking short story collection paints an uncompromising portrait of a contemporary America filled with liars and buffoons, racists and swindlers, hypocritical ...

  • An American Bible: A History of the Good Book in the United States, 1777-1880
    By Paul C. Gutjahr

    Stokes , Church and State , p . 395 . 71. Stokes , Church and State , p . 395 . 72. Harpers Weekly , October 1 , 1870 . 73. Jorgenson , The State and the Non - Public School , p . 112-114 . 74. Stokes , Church and State , pp . 727-728 .

  • How to Be an American Housewife
    By Margaret Dilloway

    When Shoko decided to marry an American GI and leave Japan, she had her parents' blessing, her brother's scorn, and a gift from her husband-a book on how to be a proper American housewife.

  • The Good Immigrant: 26 Writers Reflect on America
    By Nikesh Shukla, Chimene Suleyman

    By turns heartbreaking and hilarious, troubling and uplifting, these "electric" essays come together to create a provocative, conversation-sparking, multivocal portrait of modern America (The Washington Post).

  • The Good Occupation
    By Susan L. Carruthers

    From letters, diaries, and memoirs, Susan Carruthers chronicles the intimate thoughts and feelings of ordinary servicemen and women whose difficult mission was to rebuild nations they had recently worked to destroy.

  • American Spy: A Novel
    By Lauren Wilkinson

    This is a face of the Cold War you’ve never seen before, and it introduces a powerful new literary voice.