FSO Reading List
Top 10 FSO Reading List
: Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, On China, A People's History of the United States, The Elements of Style, The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know, Atlas of the World, Nation of Nations, The Paradox of American Power: Why the World's Only Superpower Can't Go It Alone, Modern South Asia: History, Culture and Political Economy, Career Diplomacy: Life and Work in the U.S. Foreign Service
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
| Author | Jared Diamond |
| ISBN | 0739467352 |
"Diamond has written a book of remarkable scope ... one of the most important and readable works on the human past published in recent years."
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a national bestseller: the global account of the rise of civilization that is also a stunning refutation of ideas of...
| Author | Henry Kissinger |
| ISBN | 1594202710 |
In this sweeping and insightful history, Henry Kissinger turns for the first time at book-length to a country he has known intimately for decades, and whose modern relations with the West he helped shape. Drawing on historical records as well as his conversations with Chinese leaders over the past...
A People's History of the United States
| Author | Howard Zinn |
| ISBN | 0060838655 |
Library Journal calls Howard Zinn’s iconic A People's History of the United States “a brilliant and moving history of the American people from the point of view of those…whose plight has been largely omitted from most histories.” Packed with vivid details and telling quotations, Zinn’s...
| Author | William Strunk Jr. |
| ISBN | 0205313426 |
This book is good for the following things:
1. Propping up a short table leg
2. Lining a bird cage
3. Building a fire
4. Using as a coaster for cold drinks
I devoted some of my grammar thesis to criticizing this book, and it was time well spent.
Geoff...
| Author | E.D. Hirsch Jr. |
| ISBN | 0618226478 |
In this fast-paced information age, how can Americans know what's really important and what's just a passing fashion? Now more than ever, we need a source that concisely sums up the knowledge that matters to Americans -- the people, places, ideas, and events that shape our cultural conversation. With...
| Author | Oxford University Press |
| ISBN | 0195393287 |
The only world atlas updated annually, guaranteeing that users will find the most current geographic information, Oxford's Atlas of the World is the most authoritative resource on the market. The Sixteenth Edition remains the finest international reference source of its kind available. Including...
| Author | James West Davidson |
The latest addition to our very successful Overture Books program, "Nation of Nations: A Concise Narrative History of the American Republic," is based on one of the most successful US history survey texts in recent memory. Its success is due to its well-crafted blend of political and social history....
| Author | Joseph S. Nye Jr. |
| ISBN | 0195161106 |
Not since the Roman Empire has any nation had as much economic, cultural, and military power as the United States does today. Yet, as has become all too evident through the terrorist attacks of September 11th and the impending threat of the acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iran, that power is not enough...
| Author | Sugata Bose |
| ISBN | 0415307872 |
Jointly written by two leading Indian and Pakistani historians, Modern South Asia offers a rare depth of historical understanding of the politics, cultures and economies that shape the lives of more than a fifth of humanity. After sketching the pre-modern history of the sub-continent, the book concentrates...
| Author | Harry W. Kopp |
| ISBN | 1589012194 |
I thought this was a solid explanation of all aspects of the foreign service--I had no idea there was a dedicated foreign service in the commerce department, for instance, however small it was--and I had particular interest in learning about the history of the foreign service within the state department...
Understanding Contemporary Africa
| Author | April A. Gordon |
| ISBN | 1588264661 |
Thoroughly updated to reflect recent events and trends - including Africa and the war on terror, progress and problems in democratization, advances by women in politics, developments in the fight against AIDS, the growing influence of China, the establishment of the African Union, and much more...
The Politics of United States Foreign Policy
| Author | Jerel A. Rosati |
| ISBN | 0495008621 |
Have you ever wondered how U.S. foreign policy is made? THE POLITICS OF UNITED STATES FOREIGN POLICY is the definitive work on this topic and gives you insight into the real impact of politics. Comprehensible and informative, this political science text discusses the historical patterns of continuity...
Women and the American Experience
| Author | Nancy Woloch |
| ISBN | 0073205818 |
This comprehensive synthesis of women's history from the 17th century to the present draws on the past three decades of scholarship in the field. Its unique paired-chapter format couples a narrative "episode" that vividly evokes a particular individual or event with a synthesis chapter that places...
A History of the Twentieth Century: The Concise Edition of the Acclaimed World History
Martin Gilbert, author of the multivolume biography of Winston Churchill and other brilliant works of history, chronicles world events year by year, from the dawn of aviation to the flourishing technology age, taking us through World War I to the inauguration of Franklin Roosevelt as president of...
The Heritage of World Civilizations, Combined Volume
| Author | Albert M. Craig |
| ISBN | 0205803504 |
For an introductory level survey of world history, from Human Origins to the Present.
The unique heritage of world civilizations, and their great religious and philosophical traditions.
Written by leading scholars in their respective fields, The Heritage of World Civilizations...
Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II
| Author | John W. Dower |
| ISBN | 0393320278 |
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the 1999 National Book Award for Nonfiction, finalist for the Lionel Gelber Prize and the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize, Embracing Defeat is John W. Dower's brilliant examination of Japan in the immediate, shattering aftermath of World War II.
Drawing on a...
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
| Author | Lynne Truss |
| ISBN | 1592402038 |
In Eats, Shoots & Leaves, former editor Lynne Truss, gravely concerned about our current grammatical state, boldly defends proper punctuation. She proclaims, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful...
| Author | Robert D. Kaplan |
| ISBN | 0399588213 |
An incisive portrait of the American landscape that shows how geography continues to determine America's role in the world--from the bestselling author of The Revenge of Geography and Balkan Ghosts
As a boy, Robert D. Kaplan listened to his truck-driver father tell evocative stories about...
Pity the Nation: The Abduction of Lebanon
| Author | Robert Fisk |
| ISBN | 1560254424 |
With the Israeli-Palestinian crisis reaching wartime levels, where is the latest confrontation between these two old foes leading? Robert Fisk's explosive Pity the Nation recounts Sharon and Arafat's first deadly encounter in Lebanon in the early 1980s and explains why the Israel–Palestine...
| Author | University of Chicago Press |
| ISBN | 0226104036 |
The 15th edition of
The Chicago Manual of Style
has been superseded by the 17th edition.
In the 1890s, a proofreader at the University of Chicago Press prepared a single sheet of typographic fundamentals intended as a guide for the University community. That sheet grew into a pamphlet,...
| Author | Mary Beth Norton |
| ISBN | 0618093338 |
A People and a Nation is a spirited narrative that challenges students to think about the meaning of American history. Its thoughtful inclusion of the lives of everyday people, cultural diversity, work, and popular culture preserves the text's basic approach to American history as a story of all the...
The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order
| Author | Parag Khanna |
| ISBN | 1400065089 |
Grand explanations of how to understand the complex twenty-first-century world have all fallen short–until now. In The Second World, the brilliant young scholar Parag Khanna takes readers on a thrilling global tour, one that shows how America’s dominant moment has been suddenly replaced by...
| Author | Hiroshi Motomura |
| ISBN | 0195163451 |
In Americans in Waiting, Motomura discovers in our national past a simple yet powerful approach to immigration and citizenship. Rewriting the conventional story, Motomura uncovers how for over 150 years, many immigrants were immediately put on track to U.S. citizenship. They were entitled to overseas...
Principles of Microeconomics
| Author | N. Gregory Mankiw |
| ISBN | 0324319169 |
Mankiw's Principles of Economics textbooks continue to be the most popular and widely used text in the economics classroom. PRINCIPLES OF MICROECONOMICS, 4th Edition features a strong revision of content in all 22 chapters while maintaining the clear and accessible writing style that is the hallmark...
Fundamentals of Management
| Author | Ricky W. Griffin |
| ISBN | 0618917071 |
This skills-based text from respected author Ricky Griffin gives instructors the flexibility to integrate their own cases, exercises, and projects while continuing to provide them with a strong theoretical framework. Chapters are organized according to a strong pedagogy, featuring learning...
| Author | Terri Morrison |
| ISBN | 1593373686 |
Your Passport to International Business Etiquette
The most authoritative and comprehensive text of its kind, Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands, 2nd Edition is your must-have guide to proper international business protocol. With countries such as China and India taking on a more significant role...
Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World
| Author | Tracy Kidder |
| ISBN | 0812973011 |
This powerful and inspiring book shows how one person can make a difference, as Kidder tells the true story of a gifted man who is in love with the world and has set out to do all he can to cure it.
Tracy Kidder is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the author of the bestsellers The Soul of a New Machine,...
All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror
| Author | Stephen Kinzer |
| ISBN | 0471678783 |
An American Coup & the Roots of Middle East Terror
Half a century ago, the United States overthrew a Middle Eastern government for the first time. The victim was Mohammad Mossadegh, the democratically elected prime minister of Iran. Although the coup seemed a success at first, today it serves...
This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate
| Author | Naomi Klein |
| ISBN | 1451697384 |
Forget everything you think you know about global warming. It's not about carbon – it's about capitalism. The good news is that we can seize this crisis to transform our failed economic system and build something radically better.
In her most provocative book yet, Naomi Klein, author of...
| Author | Charles King |
| ISBN | 0195177754 |
The Caucasus mountains rise at the intersection of Europe, Russia, and the Middle East. A land of astonishing natural beauty and a dizzying array of ancient cultures, the Caucasus for most of the twentieth century lay inside the Soviet Union, before movements of national liberation created newly...
| Author | Uwem Akpan |
| ISBN | 0316113786 |
Uwem Akpan's stunning stories humanize the perils of poverty and violence so piercingly that few readers will feel they've ever encountered Africa so immediately. The eight-year-old narrator of "An Ex-Mas Feast" needs only enough money to buy books and pay fees in order to attend school. Even when...
The Dressmaker of Khair Khana: Five Sisters, One Remarkable Family, and the Woman Who Risked Everything to Keep Them Safe
| Author | Gayle Tzemach Lemmon |
| ISBN | 0061732370 |
The life Kamila Sidiqi had known changed overnight when the Taliban seized control of the city of Kabul. After receiving a teaching degree during the civil war—a rare achievement for any Afghan woman—Kamila was subsequently banned from school and confined to her home. When her father and brother...
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
| Author | Katherine Boo |
| ISBN | 1400067553 |
From Pulitzer Prize-winner Katherine Boo, a landmark work of narrative nonfiction that tells the dramatic and sometimes heartbreaking story of families striving toward a better life in one of the twenty-first century's great, unequal cities.
In this brilliantly written, fast-paced...
May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons: A Journey Among the Women of India
| Author | Elisabeth Bumiller |
| ISBN | 0449906140 |
"The most stimulating and thought-provoking book on India in a long time..Bumiller has made India new and immediate again."
THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD
In a chronicle rich in diversity, detail, and empathy, Elisabeth Bumiller illuminates the many women's lives she shared--from wealthy...
