Public diplomacy - the uncertain art of winning public support abroad for one's government and its foreign policies - constitutes a critical instrument of U.S. policy in the wake of the Bush administration's recent military interventions and its renunciation of widely accepted international accords. Wilson Dizard Jr. offers the first comprehensive account of public diplomacy's evolution within the U.S. foreign policy establishment, ranging from World War II to the present. Dizard focuses on the U.S. Information Agency and its precursor, the Office of War Information. Tracing the political ups and downs determining the agency's trajectory, he highlights its instrumental role in creating the policy and programs underpinning today's public diplomacy, as well as the people involved. The USIA was shut down in 1999, but it left an important legacy of what works and what doesn't in presenting U.S. policies and values to the rest of the world. Inventing Public Diplomacy is an unparalleled history of U.S. efforts at organized international propaganda.

About the Author
Wilson Dizard Jr. served in the U.S. State Department and the USIA from 1951 to 1980. Author of seven books and more than sixty scholarly articles, most recently Digital Diplomacy: U.S. Foreign Policy in the Information Age and Meganet, he has been adjunct professor of international affairs at Georgetown University (1975-1995) and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (1983-2001).

Reviews
Excellent.... A thorough, engaging, and unbiased study of the USIA and the people who made it work. James Schwoch, Northwestern University; Dizard s much-needed, comprehensive history of the USIA examines the agency s antecedents, as well as its legacy since it was dissolved in 1999, providing a fascinating look at how U.S. public diplomacy programs overlapped and often conflicted. David Krugler, University of Wisconsin Platteville



Book Information
ISBN 9781588262882
Author Wilson P. Dizard
Format Hardback
Page Count 230
Imprint Lynne Rienner Publishers Inc
Publisher Lynne Rienner Publishers Inc