Lessons from The Edge by Marie Yovanovitch
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Web ID: 176890505 reviews
Very Informative Read
Well written memoir from a very politically profound diplomat. Before picking up this book I had not heard of Marie Yovanovitch or her lifelong contributions to the U.S. foreign efforts that she dedicated her life to. The book was easy to follow from her start as a diplomat to the political turmoil that she faced at the end of her career under the Trump administration. Throughout the book Yovanovitch paints a clear picture into many important foreign policies that she helped shape and countries that she assisted in.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Good Read - Takeaway Clouded By Objectivity Lapse
After listening to Marie Yovanovitch in a recent talk at the Howard Baker Public Policy Center at The University of Tennessee, I read her memoir (Lessons From The Edge), focusing on her background as the daughter of Eastern European immigrants and her experiences as a career employee of the U.S. State Department. I found the book to be a good read, interesting, information filled about the inner workings of the State Department and Eastern European history, and a real page turner. For the first 235+/- pages, I found the facts and the author’s comments presented in an objective manner. Unfortunately, she then let her negative experience of being recalled by the Trump Administration as the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine in a highly politicized environment cloud her objectivity and the book became highly political and in my opinion, unbalanced. Even before the Ambassador’s recall, information was widely published establishing that President Trump had been the victim of misinformation used by his opponent in the 2016 election, both before and after his election, to wrongfully accuse him of being a Russian agent. That misinformation narrative continued throughout his administration, was promoted by the U.S. press, and was used by a Democrat controlled House of Representatives, in an effort first to undermine him as President, and then to impeach him. Significantly, the politicians knowingly and wrongfully using that misinformation against the President included many that received praise by the author in her memoir, including then Vice President and candidate Joe Biden, former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, all without discussion by the author. It is understandable that Ambassador Yovanovitch was offended by Attorney Rudy Giuliani’s investigation and reporting to the President about corruption in the Ukraine, and the Administration’s acting on that information. I am personally persuaded by the memoir that the Ambassador’s version of the corruption of Ukraine Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin is largely accurate. On the other hand, the widely available information about the corruption of Hunter Biden, his involvement in the corrupt Russian and Ukranian oil and gas industry and the large sums of money from that including amounts that were designated for the “Big Guy” (V.P. Biden), the suppression of that information by the U.S. press and the FBI, and the Russia misinformation campaign that was wrongfully used to plague his administration, were all ignored in the memoir. Understandably and probably, all that had its effect on the President’s processing of the information provided to him by his attorney and from Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko, who was Ukraine’s reform replacement for the Prosecutor fired as a result of the highly publicized demand of V.P. Biden. I certainly understand that Ambassador Yovanovitch had a need to state for the record her account of the facts, but my impression of her memoir is that the last 75+/- pages (before the Epilogue) became a highly political diatribe against the Trump Administration and was counter to the Ambassador’s effort to show the State Department as impartial and non-political. I commend the memoir for providing important historical and behind the scenes information about the State Department. It gave me a better understanding of the role of the State Department and its importance. And I want to say that I found Ms. Yovanovitch to be a valuable State Department employee, dedicated to eliminating corruption, and a great asset to our country until she became political and decided to use her years of excellent service to the Country to trash the Trump Administration. There is much I do not like about Donald Trump, his delivery and rhetoric and his inability as a leader and as president to even attempt to bring together the country. But I must say that I long for a return of his policies that obviously supported and resulted in a strong America. Respectfully, I would suggest that the proven misinformation campaigns against the Trump Administration, perpetuated by the very politicians receiving great praise in the Ambassador’s memoir, caused far greater damage to America than any misinformation considered by President Trump and acted upon by his administration in recalling her as his Administration’s ambassador to the Ukraine. Despite the political nature of Ambassador Yovanovitch’s service after she decided to seek an extension of her appointment and her unbalanced description of that portion of her service in the memoir, I found almost all the observations in the Epilogue to be non-political and balanced. I believe it is unfortunate that Ambassador Yovanovitch deviated so significantly from her training and her career objective as a State Department employee, detracting from the good message of her memoir.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Worthwhile Read
Like many of you I watched Marie Yovanovitch's testimony during the impeachment and found her testimony compelling. So when her book was released I just had to read it to find out more about her. And I wasn't disappointed! Her book was a real insight on how the State Department is set up. And some of the dangerous as well as the rewarding work that employees of the State Department experience. Thank you Marie for your service to the United States. Its people like you that keep our democracy going.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Spellbinding like a novel
We know Marie from her testimony at the impeachment hearings. We know Marie even better after this spellbinding book. Well worth a read for the history and the entertainment.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Sharp, insightful, brilliant
Lessons from the Edge by Marie Yovanovich is lesson after lesson in world history, from someone who was there. To better understand Ukraine, the former Soviet Union, Putin’s motivations, and the life of an American foreign service officer- read this book.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com