Getting Our Way
500 Years of Adventure and Intrigue: the Inside Story of British Diplomacy
Published on 29. October 2009
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-0-297-85875-1 (ISBN)
Description
Over the last five hundred years, Britain's power has waxed and waned: from the puny island nation of the sixteenth century, to the global superpower of the nineteenth century, to the more modest post-imperial status today of a major European power. But in these radically different circumstances, the wisdom of Lord Palmerston's observation has endured. Getting Our Way recounts nine stories from Britain's diplomatic annals over the last five hundred years, in which the diplomats themselves are at the centre of the narrative. It is an inside account of their extraordinary experiences, sometimes in the face of physical danger, often at history's hinge. Be it Henry Killigrew's mission to Edinburgh in 1572, Castlereagh at the Congress of Vienna, Our Man in Washington and the Nassau Deal, or the handover of Hong Kong to China, we can see how Britain has viewed its interests in the world and sought to advance them. Some of these dramatic episodes record triumph, some failure, but all of them illustrate how the three pillars of the national interest - security, prosperity and values - have been the foundation of British foreign policy for half a century.
Each story is illuminated by colourful anecdotes and insights drawn from Christopher Meyer's first-hand experience of international relations. Moreover, the book is a salutary reminder that foreign policy (what is to be done) and diplomacy (how it is to be done) begin and end with the national interest. And far from being the preserve of aloof aristocrats, the pursuit of our national interest is replete with intrigue, treachery, espionage, and danger - an extraordinary combination of high principle and low cunning, vice and virtue, all with the specific aim of 'getting our way'.
Each story is illuminated by colourful anecdotes and insights drawn from Christopher Meyer's first-hand experience of international relations. Moreover, the book is a salutary reminder that foreign policy (what is to be done) and diplomacy (how it is to be done) begin and end with the national interest. And far from being the preserve of aloof aristocrats, the pursuit of our national interest is replete with intrigue, treachery, espionage, and danger - an extraordinary combination of high principle and low cunning, vice and virtue, all with the specific aim of 'getting our way'.
Reviews / Votes
"One of the intriguing sub-texts of Meyer's book is his undisguised disdain for British foreign policy under New Labour... His book is an eloquently argued defence of a public body that gets more than its fair share of brickbats. A pity that so few of our politicians share his grasp of reality and clarity of vision." THE MAIL ON SUNDAY - 01.11.09 "he does write well. His trenchant prose is unsullied by the managerial gobbledegook that has infected Whitehall. His tone is engagingly sardonic...an admirable diplomatic primer...Meyer is the silkiest of mandarins." -- Piers Brendon THE SUNDAY TIMES - 1.11.09 "his conclusions are more explosive than Mr Prescott's famous temper." -- Richard Beeston, BOOK OF THE WEEK THE TIMES - 31.10.09 "The former Ambassador to the US takes a dim view of Britain's foreign policy, arguing that it's high time government started to look out for numero uno." -- "Books we've loved in the past few weeks." THE TIMES "His book is an argument for a return to a coherent foreign policy with a "clear-eyed vision of the national interest." A dose of refreshing realism which is over due. If we want to get out way, we have to be clear what way we want." -- PETER LEWIS DAILY MAIL 13.11.09 "an entertaining book and also a valuable one. Meyer writes well... he has made the difficult transition to writing for the general reader, and the book is not far short of a page-turner." -- OLIVER MILES, FORMER BRITISH AMBASSADOR THE GUARDIAN 14.11.09 Meyer knows very well that a good story sells an argument. So he has chosen to write a history book, a retelling of '500 years of adventure and intrigue' in British diplomacy, to make his case...These are good stories, especially those about the grand failures... -- QUENTIN PEEL, FT'S INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS EDITOR FINANCIAL TIMES 14.11.09More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Orion Publishing Co
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 160 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
571 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-297-85875-1 (9780297858751)
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Schweitzer Classification