by Cami Hofstadter ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 16, 2015
Well-written and lively, offering an engaging way to learn about the sometimes-perplexing world of foreign consulates.
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This expanded second edition adds a global perspective to a surprisingly readable explanation of foreign consuls.
Arguably, Americans are generally less worldly in foreign affairs, in part because of the country’s physical isolation from much of the rest of the world. American citizens are also likely to be ignorant of foreign consuls, even though consuls may be located in their very communities. Yet as Hofstadter, a Finnish-born transplant to America who spent time as a consul, explains, these officials help “in the development of commercial, economic, cultural and scientific relations between their countries and the U.S. locales where they are posted.” The author handily explains what consuls are and their primary functions, as well as proper etiquette when it comes to dealing with them. While the book is most relevant for American government officials, academics, or businesspeople who might have interactions with foreign dignitaries, it could be of interest to a broader audience because it is so enjoyable to read. Hofstadter writes with a great deal of polish and good humor in a style that is informal yet authoritative. She is particularly adept at creating engaging chapter openings through her use of anecdotes that often demonstrate various blunders caused largely by people who haven’t a clue how to interact with consuls or how to make the best use of their services. The author discusses some of the key areas in which consuls have an impact, including facilitating travel as well as cross-border educational exchanges. Particularly interesting are explanations of the distinction between “career” and “honorary” consuls and the differences between consular and diplomatic personnel. Also useful (and somewhat dizzying) are the variety of definitions: “consul general,” “consul,” “vice consul,” “consulate,” “consular corps,” and “diplomat.” The details about how to address consuls (both in person and in written form) and seat them at events are admittedly mundane, but they will certainly help avoid embarrassment for individuals responsible for such things.
Well-written and lively, offering an engaging way to learn about the sometimes-perplexing world of foreign consulates.Pub Date: Feb. 16, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9882169-1-4
Page Count: 262
Publisher: Seagreen Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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developed by Ludwig Bemelmans ; illustrated by Steven Salerno
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by Charlayne Hunter-Gault ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1992
From the national correspondent for PBS's MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour: a moving memoir of her youth in the Deep South and her role in desegregating the Univ. of Georgia. The eldest daughter of an army chaplain, Hunter-Gault was born in what she calls the ``first of many places that I would call `my place' ''—the small village of Due West, tucked away in a remote little corner of South Carolina. While her father served in Korea, Hunter-Gault and her mother moved first to Covington, Georgia, and then to Atlanta. In ``L.A.'' (lovely Atlanta), surrounded by her loving family and a close-knit black community, the author enjoyed a happy childhood participating in activities at church and at school, where her intellectual and leadership abilities soon were noticed by both faculty and peers. In high school, Hunter-Gault found herself studying the ``comic-strip character Brenda Starr as I might have studied a journalism textbook, had there been one.'' Determined to be a journalist, she applied to several colleges—all outside of Georgia, for ``to discourage the possibility that a black student would even think of applying to one of those white schools, the state provided money for black students'' to study out of state. Accepted at Michigan's Wayne State, the author was encouraged by local civil-rights leaders to apply, along with another classmate, to the Univ. of Georgia as well. Her application became a test of changing racial attitudes, as well as of the growing strength of the civil-rights movement in the South, and Gault became a national figure as she braved an onslaught of hostilities and harassment to become the first black woman to attend the university. A remarkably generous, fair-minded account of overcoming some of the biggest, and most intractable, obstacles ever deployed by southern racists. (Photographs—not seen.)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-374-17563-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1992
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