A Stubble-Jumper in Striped Pants : : Memoirs of a Prairie Diplomat / / Earl G. Drake.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Toronto Press eBook-Package Archive 1933-1999
• VerfasserIn: Drake, Earl G.,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2016]; ©1999
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (272 p.)

In the spring of 1989, Earl Drake, Canadian ambassador to China, found himself in the midst of the Tiananmen Square crisis. Asked to evacuate Beijing's Canadian residents in a hurry, to maintain control of the embassy, and to provide a voice of reason to the media, he resolved to write his memoirs if he made it out unharmed. His recollections paint a fascinating picture of the life of a diplomat initially drawn to the foreign service from his study of history, and provide a first-hand account of the growing depth and complexity of Canada's relations with Asia.Drake knew many of the leaders of the postwar world, and his in-depth character sketches of such powerful and controversial figures as Robert McNamara, President Suharto, and China's Li Peng are written with a sense of humanity and fairness. What particularly sets this memoir apart is Drake's humour and humility. He is frank about himself and his attitudes and avoids the self-importance that is a feature of many diplomatic memoirs. In his own words, he 'looks at the old Central Canadian attitudes of the Department of External Affairs through fresh prairie eyes.'Anyone who wants to know more about Canada's diplomatic activities in Asia will find this memoir engaging, because of both its forthright manner and the events and people recounted.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Prologue -- 1. A Prairie Puritan from Saskatchewan -- 2. A Neophyte at External: Ottawa, 1955 and 1959-1961 -- 3. Getting Hooked on the Foreign Service: Pakistan, 1956-1958 -- 4. A Dancing Leader: Prime Minister Suhrawardy of Pakistan -- 5. Confrontation and Partisanship: Malaysia, 1961-1964 -- 6. An Avuncular Leader: Tunku Abdul Rahman of Malaysia -- 7. International Development: Ottawa, 1965-1968 and 1972-1975 -- 8. The Temptations of Paris: The OECD, 1968-1972 -- 9. The Mighty World Bank: Washington, 1975-1982 -- 10. A Controversial Leader: McNamara of the World Bank -- 11. The Poetic in the Midst of Reality: Indonesia, 1982-1983 -- 12. An Iconoclast in China: Beijing, 1987-1989 -- 13. Tiananmen Crisis: China, 1989-1990 -- 14. An Unloved Leader: Premier Li Peng of China -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Index