A Tale of Two Canadians
The odds of winning LOTO/649 surely must be lower by far than the odds of Personnel effecting such perfect posting symmetry in the normal course of business. Two well-known Canadian authors (spouses at that) landing at our two major missions in the…
De Mackenzie King à Pierre Trudeau. Quarante ans de diplomatie canadienne
Professeur au département de science politique de l’Université Laval, Paul Painchaud est à la fois esprit friand de vastes synthèses et animateur tenace. En 1977, il a dirigé un collectif Le Canada et le Québec sur la scène internationale qui a rendu…
Shadow of Heaven: The Life of Lester Pearson. Volume One: 1897-1948
The perfect title for this biography of Lester Pearson would have been simply “Mike,” but, since Pearson had already used it for his own memoirs, John English had to cast around for something different. He hit upon an expression used by Milton…
Governments and Corporations in a Shrinking World
(With apologies to Sylvia, to poets everywhere, and to my four small children with whom I spend summers reading vastly superior doggerel. If the above extraordinary work of art does not tell you much about the book, all the better — this…
The Wealthy Diplomat: A Simple Approach to Material Wealth
This may sound like a contradiction in terms, given the abysmal salary levels of members of the Foreign Service (particularly at the FS-1 levels) vis-à-vis other professional groups in the Public Service. Nevertheless, it is possible to become financially comfortable on a…
Uprooting Poverty, the South African Challenge
The main value of this long book, in this reviewer’s opinion, is that it provides indisputable evidence of the direct linkage between political powerlessness and poverty. Another important theme is the vicious circle which coils around poor people. It is nearly impossible…
Bridges of Hope? Canadian Voluntary Agencies and the Third World
The book “Bridges of Hope?” represents one of the most comprehensive and in-depth analysis to date of the nature, complexities, and challenges facing the Canadian NGO community. Without doubt, this book is a “must” for anyone attempting to understand Canadian voluntary agencies,…
A History of Islamic Societies
I met Professor Lapidus on only one occasion, in 1969 when he attended a conference held in honour of the 1000th anniversary of the founding of Cairo. For a young graduate student, this was an opportunity to see and meet the illuminati…
Socialisms: Why Socialists Disagree — And What They Disagree About
According to Anthony Wright, the history of socialism is the story of a broad diversity of competing and substantively differing theories and movement all claiming to be socialist. In his brief introduction to the world of socialism, Wright focuses on the differences…
Executive Job-Changing
Judging by the current level of job dissatisfaction at External Affairs, it would not be surprising if some of our colleagues considered, from time to time, options beyond the green pastures of the Department. For these, the creative approach to job-changing might…
