Name: William D. Morgan

His book: Morgan and Charles Stuart Kennedy co-wrote American Diplomats, The Foreign Service at Work published by iUniverse.

About the book: Retired diplomats Morgan and Kennedy selected 40 accounts from the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST) oral history archives for this book. Insiders share their experiences such as what happens when a consul spies on Nazi Germany, Mao-Tse-Tung drops by for a chat, or Khruschev calls President Kennedy an “S.O.B.”

While the “you are there” accounts are entertaining, they will also deepen the reader’s understanding of the inner workings of the diplomatic and consular offices.

“This is not a stuffy book on foreign policy. It’s a book about individual experiences. Many diplomats have fascinating anecdotes about their careers, and there seems to be a strong desire on their part to talk about what they did. After they’re retired, they are free to talk about those experiences—unlike some branches of the government.

“And diplomats, of all people, know how to talk about ‘secrets’ while being sensitive to security issues. So, it makes for an interesting read.”

What inspired you to write this book? “As Stu and I collected these oral histories for the ADST, people kept telling us we should write a book. So we picked out some of the most compelling stories from 1920 to 1997 and arranged them in historical context.”

What do you most enjoy about living at Greenspring (an Erickson-built and –managed community in Springfield, Va.)? “The fact that nobody is knocking on my door asking me to go to Bingo! Seriously, I enjoy people—and there’s a lot of interesting people who live here—but I also treasure my time alone. Everybody is very friendly, but they respect your privacy.”