Lippman's biography is balanced, fair and an enjoyable read. You'll come away with a clear sense of Albright's strengths and special qualities as well as her weaknesses as a leader. You'll learn how her style differs from that of Christopher and Powell. I would have liked a little more clarity and depth on how she justified women's issues as a foreign policy imperative. Her comments about enslavement of women and the likelihood of war under women political leaders hinted at her views. I suspect, however, there's more to her arguments than the book covered. Albright's perspective and the national security establishment's reaction to it may color our relations with Arab allies, the Chinese and other important global players. I also would have liked to explore more how her personal history influenced her views on the Middle East. Lippman kept mentioning that Albright showed unusually little compassion for Palestinians yet I never learned why.

"Madeleine Albright and the New American Diplomacy" is a seasoned reporter's lensview of "classic Albright" and the political, cultural and diverse complexities involved in the politiking of American diplomacy at the beginning of the 21st century. This book is the first up-front and up-close skillfully crafted exposé of the unyielding and seemingly overwhelming intricacies of the first Information Age secretary of state's practice of diplomacy. This book details from an American reporter's point of view the articulation of, and the simultaneous architecturing of Albright's personal and public political art and science of what I call "real-time" international human relations. This highly timely and acutely valuable book, which is an engaging read on American diplomatic practice in the Information Age, commences what will be a long series of critical evaluations of this period. This book merits an attentive reading for a variety of reasons. First, it provides a multi-dimensional insider's view of the behind the scenes collaborative (and at times coercive) "maneuvering" from all the respective domains, i.e., State Department, press, White House, Congress, foreign diplomats etc., which induced the outcomes of this new diplomacy. Second, it is the first book on the new diplomacy to provide a discerning profile of Madeleine Albright, the diplomat, as the reengineering diplomatic practitioner she has had to become in assuming the role of an information age secretary of state-a position the job description of which is just beginning to formulate its definition. Notwithstanding, it would have chartered its own course, Lippman in a lucid and vivid writing style demonstrates how Secretary Albright decisively sets Post-Cold War diplomacy on a new course. Third, this book educates us to some degree on the extreme difficulty in selling real-time civic-humanitarian (RTC) diplomacy convincingly to the American people-even though this era will demand more of global citizens than has traditional diplomacy. Fourth, Lippman details the critical relationship-building skills which are, and will continue to be, crucial as this revolution in American diplomatic affairs continues to chart its course. Fifth, Lippman does not foreclose, but aptly demonstrates, the intensity of plural flexibility which is required of new civic and governmental diplomats. Sixth, in as much as Madeleine Albright is the central figure around whom this book is written, this book is as much about the inevitable funeral of traditional diplomacy the world once knew and the birth of a civic revolution in American diplomatic affairs, as it is the inevitability of the emergence of creative and diverse meanings of the term "diplomacy' bringing new and diverse forms of diplomatic practice, i.e., website/Internet diplomacy, OP-Ed diplomacy, NGO-host diplomacy, public forum diplomacy, red-eye diplomacy, media diplomacy, etc. In the end Lippman's book demonstrates the unpredictable nature of RTC diplomacy in our new world even when you have the best resources, a steel will, the strategic means and noble motives as well as the most highly skilled and well intentioned of diplomats. Seventh, this book gives us a realistic look at who Madeleine Albright is and what she is about while at the same time demanding that diplomacy be broadly redefined "as whatever it takes in the context of ethical international human relations to reach the high ground of the, or some, moral excellence of peace." Eighth, this book provides one American male journalist's story of how an American diplomat has courageously role modeled for American citizens their own respective ownership of the American diplomatic process. Ninth, Lippman allows us to learn from Secretary Albright that American diplomacy for the cause of peace is something we must fight for-it is not a passive American past time in which American citizens have no investment-but that American diplomacy is an enterprise which the American people have an intimate role and responsibility to direct the future of, and to support-this message could not have come at a more appropriate time than during this UN proclaimed International Year of the Culture of Peace; Ten, this book is as much about the coming of [information] age of the press and the field of journalism as it is of the diplomats and diplomatic correspondents who are the moves and shakers of this RTC diplomacy. This book reflects the adjustment the media has had to make in reaction to, and commensurate with, the new demands of RTC diplomatic practice. Notwithstanding these commendable accomplishments the book is not without its flaws. The book being the first of many diplomatic affairs Information Age-time piece publications is understandably more concerned with recording the multitudinous diplomatic actions Madeleine Albright executed during her term rather than focusing on an academic impact study of the high technology information age revolution on her practice of diplomacy-- this comes through only as a backdrop to her diplomatic maneuvers. In other words, those criteria which make "the new diplomacy" new are so intricately woven into the fabric of Albright's "management of world affairs" that any study of the impact of her diplomacy on their outcome is expectedly obscured by the diplomatic war to overcome them. Third, being the fresh, first book of its kind this book subjects itself to the very scrutiny to which its main character is also subject-that of being a trail blazer with no previous model on which to depend-this is both a positive and negative factor. For the most part, this factor makes it more difficult to measure the merit of this type of book. If this book, through the active parlance of diplomacy of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, is designed to speak to and warn the diplomats of today and tomorrow, man or woman, governmental or nongovernmental of the intensity of, as well as the types of battles, confrontations, frustrations, criticisms and crises, both at home and abroad, they will continue to face in an unpredictable world of real-time civic humanitarian diplomacy of the 21st century it does just that. Finaly, Lippman accomplishes this while emphasizing the necessity to fully engage Americans in the role of incorporating "America" into the public enterprise and the international domains of American diplomacy.

After 9/11, I punted "China" as my topic and moved to Islam, the other massive threat to the U.S. of A. in the 21st century. While some may complain that the militants aren't covered in any depth (they're not), Lippman paints a digestible picture of the Islamic world that gave the militants birth. In less than 200 pages, the general reader will get a well written backgrounder on the religion, the history, the major Islamic countries and the deals the current rulers have made to keep a lid on chaos at home.

Whereas I have "hope" for China to move towards the West, I come away from Lippman's book fearful that Islam will forever be a source of pain and conflict for the West. If a person really believes the Koran is the literal word of God, and more than a billion people do, then the violently inclined can mine the Book for enough statements justifying attacks such that the West will never be able to rest. Mohammed was a great warrior, lest we forget.

Also, Lippman clearly details that in Islam, there is no separation of Church and State. So, boys and girls, don't expect too many secular societies to take root. Despotism, sometimes benevolent, sometimes wicked, will likely remain the norm. I left the book informed, but also quite depressed. The Muslims need their own Renaissance. And the West needs to find ways to help it happen.

The Washington Post may have a leftist editorial stance, but they do have some damn fine writers. Lippman is one.

"A MUSLIM is one who believes that 'there is no god but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God.' A Muslim worships one all-powerful and eternal deity, called Allah in Arabic, who revealed His will and His commandments to the prophet Muhammad of Mecca in the seventh century A.D. Those revelations are recorded in the Koran, the Holy Book of Islam."

Thomas Lippman provides an excellent introduction into the Islamic world. Lippman is neither a historian nor a religious expert, but a journalist. As a journalist, he is able to easily explain Islamic Culture, practices, and history to an audience completely unfamiliar to this subject. Lippman spent a great deal of time in various Islamic countries as a journalist, and gives an easy to understand introduction into various aspects of Islam: (1) Basic Beliefs and Practices, (2) The Prophet Muhammad (3) The Koran, (4) Law and Government in Islamic Countries, (5) The Advance of Islam, (6) Schism and Mysticism, and (7) The Islamic Community Today. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in knowing more about Islamic beliefs and or history.

There's a lot of money to be made these days publishing spurious "information" about Islam and Muhammad.

How good it is to see this dispassionate, factual, objective, and pre-9/11 book is still in print! I recommend it highly to those who've only read the sort of books coming from Robert Spencer or Serge Trifkovic which appeal to post-9/11 anxieties, fears, and prejudices against Islam, as well as to those who share my concern for the long-term effects of such propaganda.