William Burns

One of America’s most distinguished diplomats William Burns throws light on some of the biggest episodes of recent decades including the end of the Cold War and the post-9/11 climate and makes a case for the enduring power of diplomacy in a volatile world.

Burns draws on newly declassified material and his own lengthy experience to throw light on the back channels of his profession and to demonstrate its value in a world that is no longer characterised by the Cold War or the period of American primacy that immediately followed it.

Burns was known as America’s ‘secret diplomatic weapon’ before he retired. He served five presidents and 10 secretaries of state and was central to many of the most important foreign policy episodes of the last four decades. He is now president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 

In association with MIT Press.