Diplomat, Dissident, Spook

Nonfiction, History, Canada, Biography & Memoir, Political, Historical
Cover of the book Diplomat, Dissident, Spook by Bill Warden, Tellwell Talent
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Bill Warden ISBN: 9781773029108
Publisher: Tellwell Talent Publication: September 18, 2017
Imprint: Tellwell Talent Language: English
Author: Bill Warden
ISBN: 9781773029108
Publisher: Tellwell Talent
Publication: September 18, 2017
Imprint: Tellwell Talent
Language: English

In this timely memoir, the late cold warrior-diplomat Bill Warden chronicles his years in the realm of western diplomacy during a period when the world stood at, and pulled back from, the brink of nuclear annihilation. Diplomat, Dissident, Spook relays firsthand the experiences of this former Canadian diplomat who, like Voltaire’s Candide, gets successively disabused of his ideological certainties. The memoir ranges from espionage-central in Berlin in the late 1950s, to the belly of the beast of "the Evil Empire" in Moscow, to Cuba, where the author worked gathering intelligence for the CIA in a clandestine program of cooperation between the US and Canada following the Cuban Missile Crisis. Through subsequent ambassadorial postings to Hong Kong and Pakistan, and missions to Tehran, where he negotiated for the resumption of diplomatic relations with the revolutionary regime in Iran following the highly publicized "Canadian Caper" (and secured the release of a Canadian hostage), Warden witnesses with some dismay as Canada's Foreign Service shifts its focus to, as he puts it, selling widgets, away from what he saw as pivotal political concerns. By the time Warden serves as High Commissioner to India during the turbulence of Indira Gandhi's assassination, the ensuing anti-Sikh pogroms and the Air India passenger jet bombing in 1985 that killed 329 people, the Cold War has all but fizzled, new -isms are challenging Western dominance, and he's disenchanted with the workings of Canadian diplomacy. Warden finally leaves the diplomatic corps for other pursuits, including driving buses, observing elections in dodgy Latin American locales, and takes up work with, among other entities, the Gorbachev Foundation, promoting democratic reforms in the Soviet Union – a fitting bookend, he writes, to his journey as a diplomat through the Cold War years. Mikhail Gorbachev has written the preface to the memoirs.

 

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In this timely memoir, the late cold warrior-diplomat Bill Warden chronicles his years in the realm of western diplomacy during a period when the world stood at, and pulled back from, the brink of nuclear annihilation. Diplomat, Dissident, Spook relays firsthand the experiences of this former Canadian diplomat who, like Voltaire’s Candide, gets successively disabused of his ideological certainties. The memoir ranges from espionage-central in Berlin in the late 1950s, to the belly of the beast of "the Evil Empire" in Moscow, to Cuba, where the author worked gathering intelligence for the CIA in a clandestine program of cooperation between the US and Canada following the Cuban Missile Crisis. Through subsequent ambassadorial postings to Hong Kong and Pakistan, and missions to Tehran, where he negotiated for the resumption of diplomatic relations with the revolutionary regime in Iran following the highly publicized "Canadian Caper" (and secured the release of a Canadian hostage), Warden witnesses with some dismay as Canada's Foreign Service shifts its focus to, as he puts it, selling widgets, away from what he saw as pivotal political concerns. By the time Warden serves as High Commissioner to India during the turbulence of Indira Gandhi's assassination, the ensuing anti-Sikh pogroms and the Air India passenger jet bombing in 1985 that killed 329 people, the Cold War has all but fizzled, new -isms are challenging Western dominance, and he's disenchanted with the workings of Canadian diplomacy. Warden finally leaves the diplomatic corps for other pursuits, including driving buses, observing elections in dodgy Latin American locales, and takes up work with, among other entities, the Gorbachev Foundation, promoting democratic reforms in the Soviet Union – a fitting bookend, he writes, to his journey as a diplomat through the Cold War years. Mikhail Gorbachev has written the preface to the memoirs.

 

More books from Tellwell Talent

Cover of the book Light Sleepers by Bill Warden
Cover of the book Jason's Journey by Bill Warden
Cover of the book East Infection by Bill Warden
Cover of the book The Guardians of Eastgate by Bill Warden
Cover of the book Canada 1867 – 2017 by Bill Warden
Cover of the book Just Thinking by Bill Warden
Cover of the book Forever Is the Soul by Bill Warden
Cover of the book The Pot of Gold by Bill Warden
Cover of the book Pypah by Bill Warden
Cover of the book The 13th Configuration by Bill Warden
Cover of the book A Stone's Throw by Bill Warden
Cover of the book Jakob Sterling by Bill Warden
Cover of the book Are We Going to be Okay? by Bill Warden
Cover of the book Chasing Rainbows by Bill Warden
Cover of the book Write to Love by Bill Warden
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy