At the outset of this "book of journeys," Wright (God's Soldiers
) declares, "Throughout history, ambassadors would be in the vanguard of cultural discovery." Presenting intricate ambassadorial narratives in the context of their age's geopolitical tensions, Wright shows how intrepid ambassadors in the ancient world traveled epic distances to foster trade, seek out alliances or discipline rivals. Wright's sources are historical—a survey of 302 B.C Indian life by Macedonian ambassador Megathenes and the chronicles of Han dynasty ambassador Chang Ch'ien, who traveled as far as Kazakhstan—and literary: he explores theories of diplomacy through the so-called "Sanskrit Machiavelli" Kautilya's treatise Arthasastra
and the medieval Song of Roland
, celebrating the diplomatic acumen of Charlemagne. Complex accounts of Crusade-era political maneuvers and growing rifts in the Christian commonwealth segue into discussion of the 15th-century rise of statecraft and of 16th-century Protestant-Catholic tensions. He also describes diplomatic faux pas such as the British envoy Sir Henry Wooten's flounderings in the 17th-century Catholic bastion of Venice. Illuminating the practice of diplomatic immunity, the gradual formalization of the institution of global diplomacy and the role of maverick diplomats, Wright carefully balances general developments in the scope of ambassadorial duties with colorful and exemplary tales of particular instances. (June)
