Our Man, by George Packer

Atlantic staff writer Packer illuminates both beltway veterans and policy newcomers alike with his vivid portrait of senior American diplomat Richard Holbrooke, the only person to have been Assistant Secretary of State for two separate regions. From his early days in the Foreign Service in Vietnam, climbing the administrative ladder in Foggy Bottom, and negotiating an end to the Balkan Wars in the 1990s, Holbrooke’s unbridled ambition to become the most accomplished American statesman of his generation ultimately contributed to his untimely death in 2010, while serving as the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Classic Washington intrigue is reinvented in this page-turning journalistic biography.