Sardonic insights and a lovely pen. Fred Emery, former Executive Editor, The Times, London. ""Precht's stories about an American diplomat in the Middle East provide important background about America's present role and challenges in that crucial geography."" Burton Gerber, Veteran CIA Officer in Eastern Europe and the Middle East ""This is not a striped-pants world. Instead, these [stories] illuminate a grittier side of embassy life with a wry sense of humor and a bit of an edge, not unlike the author himself."" Gary Sick, Columbia University. Former advisor, National Security Council ""Although these stories are fictional, their colors are drawn from real life. Henry Precht's sharp Georgia eyes have ...captured in a unique way the flavor of the people and places of a part of the world where cynicism is the ruling philosophy. An intriguing read, with plenty of suspense."" Richard Parker, former Ambassador to Lebanon, Algeria and Morocco ""Henry Precht's well-paced stories open rare and revealing windows on the life of an American diplomat with a walk-on part in the Cold War in the Middle East. The emotional steeliness of the policy-making machine is fascinating, even as international one-upsmanship brushes aside and even kills those Middle Easterners who attempt to become more than pawns on a chessboard of great power conflicts-or of the career paths of US officials."" Hugh Pope, Middle East Correspondent, The Wall Street Journal ""Henry Precht writes with elegance, erudition, a subtle sense of humor [of the] Sisyphean struggle for dignity and democracy in the Middle East. He provides a gripping account of the contours and complexities of the US involvement in the region through the prism of someone 'present at creation.' A must read for any one interested in the Middle East, its tormented relations with the United States, and the byways of foreign policy in Washington."" Abbas Milani, Imprisoned by the Shah, fired by Khomeini, Stanford University