Product Description

David Richards is a mid-level diplomat assigned to the sleepy Middle Eastern kingdom of Kutar. Richards spends his days monitoring small development projects and his nights attending embassy cocktail parties and bedding various visiting American women and diplomats’ wives.

The time is the early 1980s, when the American Empire has begun to tentatively flex its muscles once again. Kutar is a diplomatic backwater, a former British colony, barely a blip on the State Department’s radar back in Washington. For centuries desultory tribal conflict has flared sporadically in the arid hills hundreds of miles from the coastal capital of Laradan, and as the book opens rumors of a new skirmish there reach the city’s inhabitants. As always, the residents of Laradan ignore the stories, but this time something is different: The Americans decide to do something about it.

As any casual student of geopolitics might guess, this is bad news for the people of Kutar. Urged on by a Kurtzian American military advisor named Colonel Munn, the little-used Kutaran army marches into the hills. In quick order they are decimated, and with stunning rapidity the heights above Laradan are occupied by a rebel force possessed of the government’s abandoned artillery. Soon the Americans, and all other foreigners, are ordered from the country and leave the people of Laradan to their fate.

For his own deeply personal reasons, David chooses to stay on in the besieged city, and moves into the Moonlight Hotel, a crumbling colonial dinosaur. There he is joined by an eclectic assortment of other foreigners, including a senior British diplomat, an acid-tongued Romanian countess, and Amira, an aristocratic young woman who previously spurned David’s romantic advances. Together, this small community tries to maneuver over the radically-changed landscape of the beleaguered city, while holding out hope that the outside world might yet come to its rescue. Then the shooting begins in earnest.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1098172 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-16
• Released on: 2006-05-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

From Publishers Weekly
This fascinating satire of American imperialism and hypocrisy unfolds in the fictional Arab kingdom of Kutar, circa 1983. Anderson, a veteran foreign correspondent, paints an authentic picture of this sleepy backwater, its diplomatic corps and protagonist David Richards, a womanizing 34-year-old midlevel diplomat. For decades, remote interior tribes have sporadically clashed with the British and U.S.-supported central government—skirmishes that are ignored until pugnacious American Colonel Munn decides the insurgents represent antidemocratic forces and urges the Kutar army into the wilderness, where they're ambushed and relieved of their American weapons. The newly equipped rebels sweep forward and besiege the capitol, Laradan, where Richards has been left as the only American representative. Having completely destabilized the region, Western governments abandon the obscure, oil-poor nation. Richards waits out the bloody siege in the Moonlight Hotel with love interest Amira Chalasani, a beautiful British-raised Kutaran. He is amazed to realize the U.S. will provide a pittance for relief aid and exhortations to the Kutarans to defeat the enemies of democracy, but no military backing. To prevent a potential massacre, Richard takes an action that should wreck his career; the result is bitterly ironical. Though Anderson (Triage) demonstrates more skill with plot and geopolitical analysis than characterization, he has produced a smart, polished, proto-Syriana page-turner. (May 16)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
As a midlevel diplomat in Kutar, a sleepy Middle Eastern kingdom and former British colony, David Richards manages development projects by day and opportunities to bed available women, even diplomats' wives, by night. When an age-old tribal conflict escalates, fanned by the blustering U.S. Colonel Munn, David witnesses firsthand the shift in geopolitics from diplomacy to military might. Tensions escalate, and the diplomats are ordered to leave. But David volunteers to stay behind and joins seasoned British diplomat Nigel Mayhew in seeking a peaceful resolution. They hole up at the aging Moonlight Hotel, their days filled with endless--and fruitless--diplomatic overtures to stave off the battle between the Kutaran military, disheartened after the Munn-led failed military foray, and rebel forces. Irked by his own government's abandonment of Kutar, and troubled by his brother's death in Vietnam, David is determined that this will not be another instance where the U.S. cuts and runs. A deft, penetrating look at the shift from the age of diplomacy to the age of the generals in the 1980s. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

Praise for Triage

“Haunting . . . into the sere landscapes of a Hemingwayesque novel about men at war comes [a] conscience straight out of Graham Greene.”
—New York Times

“Triage will make your palms sweat . . . Despite the brutality of battle and the terror of surviving, it is not a novel about despair; it is about hope . . . tightly plotted and unflinchingly unsentimental.”
—USA Today

“Reminiscent of Hemingway, this is a superb effort reflecting a real understanding of consequences of war on the psyche. Essential.”
—Library Journal

“Scott Anderson writes with grace and intelligence.”
Washington Post

Praise for The Man Who Tried to Save the World

“One of the most important books to be published since the fall of the Berlin Wall . . . A great epic mystery of our day.”
—New York Observer

“A mystery story, straight out of a plot from a novel by John le Carre.”
—New York Times Book Review

“Put your thrillers aside: One of the most gripping accounts of spycraft and gamesmanship in today’s wars . . . can be found in veteran war correspondent Scott Anderson’s nonfiction account of the life and disappearance of international relief worker Fred Cuny.”
—Outside

“Entirely worthy of its magnificent subject.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

Customer Reviews

Remember the '80s?
Veteran war correspondent Anderson sets his second novel amidst the U.S. diplomatic community in a small fictional quasi-Arab backwater, circa 1983. I had enjoyed Anderson's non-fiction book about abducted aid worker Fred Cuny several years ago, and since I grew up in the Arab world in the '70s and early '80s in the U.S. diplomatic community, this new book interested me. In it, the fictional Kingdom of Kutar is an insignificant former British colony somewhat reminiscent of Oman or Yemen, with sparsely populated desert and mountains receding from the sleepy coastal capital. The story centers on David Richards, a 30-something USAID representative who splits his time between the day-to-day routine of embassy life and project management, and seducing stray expat women. The opening chapters set up his life as enjoyable, but somewhat devoid of meaning. He is roused from this torpor when, on his way back from a trip to the mountains to check on a water exploration project, he witnesses a surprising escalation of unrest from rebels who have been sporadically sparring with government forces since the end of British rule. It doesn't take long for a little unrest to snowball into major problem thanks to the incompetent meddling of the embassy's U.S. military attache and subsequent NATO intervention on the side of the government.

This is where the book stumbles just a bit. Up until here, Anderson has built a very solid fictional setting, along with a fairly astute observations of diplomatic life in a global backwater, and a cast of believable, if not entirely interesting, characters. However, the book veers from compelling drama into tragicomic farce with the introduction of Major Munn. The belligerent little Texan is so over the top, the only comparison that comes to mind is a unholy mix of Gen. Buck Turgidson and Gen. Jack D. Ripper (the George C. Scott and Sterling Hayden characters) from the film Dr. Strangeglove. And since it is Munn's enthusiastic idiocy that leads to all the tragedy that follows, one wishes Anderson had made him a more nuanced and plausible agent of change instead of "newspeak"-spouting cartoon figure.

In any event, before long, the rebels have got heavy artillery on the ridges surrounding the capital (rather like the Serbs and Sarajevo, one of the hotspots Anderson has reported from). When the rebels order all foreigners to leave the capital, David volunteers to stay behind as the U.S. representative, along with a longtime British resident diplomat, and a handful of others including a cynical war correspondent, an ancient MIddle European countess, an Italian businessman, and a beautiful woman who is the Western-raised granddaughter of a northern tribal chieftain turned millionaire (guess which one eventually shares David's bed?). This motley group make the once-grand Moonlight Hotel their home during the weeks of siege that follow. As the rebels sporadically rain artillery, mortar, and sniper fire onto the capital (very much like Sarajevo) and morale crumbles, David and the British representative shuttle around to various ministries and attempt to broker some kind of solution with vague and/or contradictory guidance from Washington and London.

Although the communiques from the State Department to David are rather over-the-top examples of bureaucratic double-talk, this section is where the book really shines. Anderson displays how haphazard policies initiated by the U.S. can lead to huge suffering and loss of life on the other side of the world, with very little stateside media attention or consequences for decision-makers. As David comes to realize that his government has created a mess only to utterly abandon it, his outrage and frustration grows until his conscience compels him to take a stand. This transformation isn't wholly convincing and is kind of cliche -- it seems rather implausible that any Foreign Service officer would make it to their mid-'30s without already come to the various realizations that he does over the course of the story. It doesn't help that David's ultimate "bold move" wouldn't actually be possible in real life (this involves his accessing $7,000,000 in the embassy safe, a figure that is about ten times the real amount an embassy of that size would have had on hand).

The book has a number of other minor flaws that make it a step down from outstanding. The shifts in tone between straight drama and farcical satire don't work very well, and as a protagonist, David isn't particularly compelling. His relationship with the wealthy Kutari woman seems kind of pro forma, and a backstory about his brother's death in Vietnam doesn't add the depth it's clearly meant to. Still, in most respects, Anderson writes with authenticity and insight about the era in which America's diplomats became subordinate to its military, with all the shameful real-life suffering and consequences that shift continues to result in.

a compelling read
As a disclaimer, I have never reviewed a book in my life, but after reading this(and wishing I had not turned the last page) I am wanting other people to know they have a great read ahead. This book is so compelling. the characters and the country(even though it is fictional) will stay with you long after you turn the last page. It is hard to say good bye.
Anderson's understanding of war and all of the horrors-and in the odd way of it's beauty really sink into your soul. you will not forget this book.
The clever character observations and portrayals are a real treat. Sly, you will understand what I mean when you read it. It is like a sad but true realization of real people acting this way-our governmentals included.
You will laugh out loud and then you will gasp as the direct reality of the horrors of war-not as we see it on TV but as it is right then, right there.. It truly makes your mind spin and as I alluded, you will be in some way changed by reading this book...and isn't that what good writing is?????
Anderson informs us in such a way that our world view can change. He has a unique perspective that is both thoughtful and entralling. You will stop dead in your tracks on some pages just to absorb/grasp the full beauty/ reality of what you have just read. Many of the well crafted and very impactive sentences/paragraphs will have you silently get introspective and then going "WOW" This is why I read. this is a window on the world I need to know but in the safety of my hometown, I am glad to have a journalist/author who can put the whole darn ting into words

"How beautiful this world's pain can be made to look, how festive."


In the 1980s, David Richards, a mid-level diplomat in Kutar, a former British colony, enjoys his work, an extensive social life, frequent missives to the State Department and interesting people, including a senior British diplomat and his wife; but when there is secret and unexpected activity in the north, the city of Laradan is caught in the middle, the port in the south unaware that trouble is brewing. The usual military officials and bureaucrats continue to misread the signs of unrest until there is a rebel insurgency in the north that cuts off all outside congress, a massacre of innocents and all foreigners compelled to leave at once. Only a few remain, Richards, Nigel Mahew, the British diplomat, Stewart McBride, an American journalist, Paolo Alfani and Amira Chalesani, an aristocrat who has so far spurned Richards' advances.

Isolated in Laradan with no idea when or if aid will come, the disparate group gathers at the Moonlight Hotel, a dilapidated structure whose owner envisioned better days of tourism and commerce. As the military blunders continue under the direction of American Colonel Munn, the besieged stragglers cling to the hope of rescue, while their situation grows increasingly dire. The scenario is all too familiar, foreign hostages at the mercy of a rebel faction enjoying new-found power, all the more dangerous for the unpredictability of the circumstances. The rebels prove far more creative and resourceful than expected, cutting the group off from communication with the rest of the world, the citizens of Laradan held hostage to the whims of the insurgents currently in power: "This was a place where money held greater sway than God or politics, where harmony was largely a matter of self-interest."

The easy commerce of a remote city in an exotic locale is fraught with danger in the sudden turn of events and Davis is put to a test far beyond anything he could have imagined, eventually imprisoned by the rebels. In order to survive, he must resort to desperate measures, kept alive in the hopes of seeing Amira again, but resigned to his fate. The author imbues this Middle Eastern kingdom with menace, changing the landscape from enterprise, diplomacy and social intercourse to complete chaos, flipping a switch from idyllic to nightmarish in a few short days as an adventure in a foreign land becomes an unpredictable exercise in terror. Part love story, part escape-from-peril, the author blends personalities and cultures in an ensemble of mixed agendas and temporary hubris, from "tribals to terrorists to liberators in less than six months", geopolitical expedience the order of the day. Luan Gaines/2006.