Robert D. Kaplanis the bestselling author of twenty books on foreign affairs and travel translated into many languages, includingAdriatic,The Good American,The Revenge of Geography, Asia's Cauldron, Monsoon, The Coming Anarchy, and Balkan Ghosts. He holds the Robert Strausz-Hupe Chair in Geopolitics at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.For three decades he reported on foreign affairs forThe Atlantic. Hewas amember of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board and the U.S. Navy's Executive Panel.Foreign Policymagazine twice named him one of the world's"Top 100 Global Thinkers."
“One of the best accounts examining American humanitarian pursuits
over the past fifty years . . . With still greater challenges on
the horizon, we will need to find and empower more people like Bob
Gersony—both idealistic and pragmatic—who can help make the world a
more secure place.”—Daniel Runde, The Washington Post
“[Gersony’s] story is inspiring because it affirms the possibility
that facts, objectively researched and dispassionately presented,
can change policy for the better. . . . Having seen firsthand how
Mr. Gersony improved policy and saved lives, I am grateful that
this book will make his example better known. May it become an
inspiration for others.”—Paul Wolfowitz, The Wall Street
Journal
“A book to remind us that America has been, and can be again, a
force for good in the world . . . Time after time, [Gersony] shows
how doing good—curbing human rights abuses, aiding refugees,
providing relief supplies—turned out to be in America’s
interest.”—Max Boot, The Washington Post
“Reading Kaplan’s account of smart, quiet, unsung heroism, readers
will come away hopeful. If Bob Gersony can spend a life going out
and really listening to other people, so can we.”—The Christian
Science Monitor
“For anyone who has stopped believing that one person can make a
difference, or that government service is still a noble calling, or
that facts still matter, or that the American brand can still hold
fast to practical idealism, this book is the antidote to those
fears.”—Jim Mattis, general, U.S. Marines (ret.), and twenty-sixth
secretary of defense, author of Call Sign Chaos
“This graceful study of a courageous and humble man reminds us that
history can be made, and lives can be saved, by diplomats who know
how to reconcile the good with the possible.”—Timothy Snyder,
author of The Road to Unfreedom and On Tyranny
“In an era in which public service is often belittled and the State
Department is being hollowed out, Robert D. Kaplan offers a
powerful rejoinder. It is a timely argument for why humanitarian
issues deserve renewed emphasis.”—Ambassador William J. Burns,
president, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former
deputy secretary of state, author of The Back Channel
“This excellent and absorbing biography reads like an adventure
novel. It offers hope that one person has made—and can make—a
difference. It also demonstrates why such people are exceedingly
rare.”—Karl Marlantes, author of Matterhorn
“Robert D. Kaplan has done it again. He has written another superb
book, filled with massive reportage—this time about a really good
and effective man. No one else could understand the heroic nature
of Bob Gersony’s work and write about it so enthrallingly.”—William
Shawcross, author of The Quality of Mercy: Cambodia, Holocaust and
Modern Conscience
“In The Good American, Robert D. Kaplan chronicles the life of Bob
Gersony, whose work is the stuff of legends. Kaplan’s piercing
analysis of a life devoted to truth and the common good reminds us
that America must rebuild the State Department.”—Nicholas Burns,
Harvard professor and former undersecretary of state for political
affairs
“Reads like an action thriller.”—Kirkus Reviews
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