Madam Ambassador

Fülszöveg

"Ambassador Kounalakis brings us inside the world of American diplomacy in a personal, accessible way, sharing her experiences as a diplomat during challenging times." -Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi
"This is an ail-American story told by the first Greek American woman to serve as a U.S. ambassador." -Admiral James Stavrides, U.S. Navy (Ret.)
AVE YOU EVER WONDERED
what it takes to be a U.S. ambassador? In Madam
Ambassador, we follow Eleni Kounalakis—first-gener-ation American, first-time diplomat, and mother of two—as she finds herself tapped by President Barack Obama to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Hungary under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
A California businesswoman who crosses over into the world of high-level government service, Kounalakis endures a grueling vetting process where she attends ambassador "charm school" along with other prospective diplomats and is asked if she's ever cheated on her husband or sent embarrassing e-mails. When she finds herself at the... Tovább

Fülszöveg

"Ambassador Kounalakis brings us inside the world of American diplomacy in a personal, accessible way, sharing her experiences as a diplomat during challenging times." -Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi
"This is an ail-American story told by the first Greek American woman to serve as a U.S. ambassador." -Admiral James Stavrides, U.S. Navy (Ret.)
AVE YOU EVER WONDERED
what it takes to be a U.S. ambassador? In Madam
Ambassador, we follow Eleni Kounalakis—first-gener-ation American, first-time diplomat, and mother of two—as she finds herself tapped by President Barack Obama to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Hungary under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
A California businesswoman who crosses over into the world of high-level government service, Kounalakis endures a grueling vetting process where she attends ambassador "charm school" along with other prospective diplomats and is asked if she's ever cheated on her husband or sent embarrassing e-mails. When she finds herself at the top of the chain of command of a medium-sized U.S. embassy in a former Soviet satellite nation, she realizes that nothing could have completely prepared her for the realities of her new life in Budapest.
With startling candor, Kounalakis recounts the triumphs and gaffes of her newly public life. Along with glamorous dinners and thrilling hunting excursions comes a strain in the U.S.-Hungarian relationship. When a center-right political party gains a two-thirds supermajority—rewriting the country's constitution and almost all of its laws—Hungary experiences a crisis in its post-communist transition to democracy.
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Kounalakis brings us to Afghanistan, where she witnesses the valor of Hungarian and American troops fighting shoulder to shoulder. She also paints a startling portrait of the rise of nationalism and anti-Semitism back in Hungary.
The first Greek American woman to be a U.S. ambassador and at age forty-three one of the youngest women ever to serve in the role, Kounalakis is a charming and entertaining guide who sees the world of international relations through fresh—and sharp—eyes. A cross between a foreign policy memoir and an inspiring personal family story, Madam Ambassador draws back the curtain on what it is like to represent the U.S. government abroad, as well as how American embassies around the world function.
Ambassador Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis
served as the U.S. ambassador to Hungary from January 2010 until July 2013. She now chairs the California International Trade and Investment Advisory Council and is a senior adviser to the Albright Stonebridge Group. She lives with her husband, journalist Markos Kounalakis, and their two sons in San Francisco. Vissza