No Higher Honor, by Condoleezza Rice

"Today's headlines and history's judgment are rarely the same. If you are too attentive to the former, you will most certainly not do the hard work of securing the latter." 

~ Condoleezza Rice ~

From one of the world's most admired women, this is former National Security Advisor and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's compelling story of eight years serving at the highest levels of government. In her position as America's chief diplomat, Rice traveled almost continuously around the globe, seeking common ground among sometimes bitter enemies, forging agreement on divisive issues, and compiling a remarkable record of achievement. 

With the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Rice found herself at the center of the administration's intense efforts to keep America safe. Here Rice describes the events of that harrowing day--and the tumultuous days after. No day was ever the same. Additionally, Rice reveals new details of the debates that led to the war in Afghanistan and then Iraq. 

They eyes of the nation were once again focused on Rice in 2004 when she appeared before the 9/11 Commission to answer tough questions about the country's preparedness for--and immediate response to, the 9/11 attacks. Her responses, it was generally conceded, would shape the nation's perception of the administration's competence during the crisis. Rice conveys just how pressure filled that appearance was and her gratitude and surprise when, in succeeding days, she was broadly saluted for her grace and forthrightness. From that point on, Rice was aggressively sought after by the media and regarded by some as the administration's most effective champion. 

No High Honor takes the reader into secret negotiating rooms where the fates of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Lebanon often hung in the balance, and it draws back the curtain on how frighteningly close all-out war loomed in clashes involving Pakistan and India, Russia, and Georgia, and East Africa. Surprisingly candid in her appraisals of various colleagues and the hundreds of foreign leaders with whom she dealt, Rice also offers keen insights into how history actually proceeds. In No Higher Honor she delivers a master class in statecraft-in a way that reveals her essential warmth and humility and her deep reverence for the ideals on which America was founded.