Product Description

"The Public Diplomacy Reader, a unique and outstanding compilation of materials on public diplomacy going back as far as the ancient Greeks and colonial America, will be of great value to all seeking an understanding of the history of this neglected discipline and its potential role today."

- Carnes Lord, Professor of Strategy, U.S. Naval War College; author, Losing Hearts and Minds? Public Diplomacy and Strategic Influence in the Age of Terror (Praeger, 2006).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #561050 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 152 pages

Review
"this guide offers ways that could discredit, divide and ultimately squelch the enemy into a blob of irrelevance. . ." -- Armed Forces Journal, May 2007

"'must reading' for anyone interested in cross cultural communications - summarizing in one reference work a commanding sweep of history one has come to expect of scholar Michael Waller and the Institute of World Politics." -- Alan L. Heil, Jr., Author, Voice of America: A History (Columbia University Press, 2003)

"For those who find themselves in a position . . . to influence our image among allies and adversaries, this book should be placed at the top of their must-read list." -- US Naval Institute Proceedings, August 2007

"unique and outstanding . . . will be of great value to all seeking an understanding of the history of this neglected discipline and its potential role today." -- Carnes Lord, US Naval War College

From the Publisher
Fighting the War of Ideas like a Real War is the first title of The Institute of World Politics Press. IWP Press was established to support the curriculum of The Institute of World Politics, an accredited graduate school of statecraft and national security affairs in Washington, D.C.

From the Author
I developed this book as a course reader for my public diplomacy students at The Institute of World Politics in Washington, DC. The book had to be comprehensive yet concise. Since most of my students are either current or future diplomats, military officers, intelligence officers, think tank analysts and private contractors, I had to address the needs of some of the most sophisticated, influential and hands-on people in the world. May the greater public benefit from this work as well.

Customer Reviews

The Spark that Should Light a Fire
Fighting the War of Ideas like a Real War is a stunningly concise and incisive work about the propaganda and public diplomacy side of fighting a "small war." It is written specifically for our current war against Islamic Fascism and is geared towards just scratching the surface of how the US can mobilize its communications resources in a strategy to literally divide and isolate the enemy while winning the hearts and minds of allies and neutrals.

Despite its short size this book is dense with illuminating ideas and challenging new thoughts. My copy is practically entirely hi-lighted (admittedly probably defeating the whole purpose of highlighting) and every page has at least one note written in the margin.

The author argues for a basic strategy and simple actions that the US government -as well as the private sector- can adopt to start fighthing this war on all fronts. He also cogently argues that the US message strategy in this war should generally be shifted from the State Department to a military combatant command. (If you have read Shadow Warriors by Kenneth Timmerman you will probably have even more reason to agree with this assessment.) I will not delve into the authors many points as they should be read in their entirety to be fully understood and appreciated.

However as the author admits this book is not at all comprehensive. It lacked a lot of specifics on how to actually implement his basic strategy. This of course is probably not necessary for the public at large to worry itself about, but will have to be decided by those actually in charge of executing it. As a book about a communications strategy though it also lacks the most key element of any strategy: it doesn't consider how the enemy would react and adapt to our actions on the message front. Again, though, that can be left up to those actually doing the fighting and doesn't detract from the intent and hoped for effect of this boook.

This needs to be widely read by senior US diplomats, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, military public affairs officers and people involved in psychological operations, and then acted upon. The general public will also behoove themselves by reading it as well. Here's to hoping this book is the spark that lights a fire of debate and action geared towards winning the propaganda front of the War on Islamo-fascism.

Excellent book on an often overlooked topic
I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in fighting terrorism and extremism. With so much of the focus these days on the military and political equation in Iraq, Waller provides an important reminder that this is, at the end of the day, a battle over IDEAS, very important ideas. Here's hoping this gets a good read in Washington.

Compelling Ideas that Must Be Read
Michael Waller has pulled together the kind of thinking that must influence the way free nations deal with militant extremism. Mike tells it like it is and attempts to guide our nation's policy-makers, diplomats, and military towards a new path to understand the conflict in which are now engaged.