Andrew Young: Civil Rights Ambassador

(Paperback)

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Andrew Young: Civil Rights Ambassador explores the rising influence of race in foreign relations as it examines the contributions of this African American activist, politician, and diplomat to U.S. foreign policy. Young used his positions as a member of the United States House of Representatives (1973D77), U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations (1977D79), and mayor of Atlanta during the 1980s to further the cause of race in diplomatic affairs and to bring an emphasis to United States relations with Africa. Author Andrew DeRoche begins his study of Young by looking at his formative years as a top assistant to Martin Luther King in the 1960s. It was during this period that Young developed his philosophy and his tactics. Young was committed to working for racial justice around the globe and he was willing to meet with all sides in any conflict. One of the few books that focuses on the influence of race in U.S. foreign policy, Andrew Young: Civil Rights Ambassador is informative reading for those interested in diplomatic history and African American history.

Reviews

Andrew DeRoche's interpretation of Andrew Young as a man who combined the internationalism of Woodrow Wilson and the anticolonial and antiracist sentiments of W.E.B. Du Bois is both novel and enlightening. Much more than a mere biography, this volume makes a substantial and valuable contribution to our understanding of the complex and often frustrating interactions between race, civil rights, and U.S. foreign policy in the postWorld War II period. -- Michael L. Krenn, Appalachian State University
DeRoche has not only written a readable and perceptive biography of a key figure in recent American history, but a book that uses Young to examine crucial issues in both domestic and foreign affairs. The blend of personality and policy is especially well done and holds the reader's attention throughout. A major addition to the growing literature on the influence of racial issues on foreign policy. -- Thomas Noer, Carthage College
Andrew Young: Civil Rights Ambassador is a sophisticated analysis of a key figure in American history and diplomacy. Remarkably, this book combines such traditional interests as Wilsonianism and the Cold War with the new scholarly issues of race, human rights, Africa, globalization, and free trade into a readable and shrewd study of Andrew Young. -- Thomas W. Zeiler, author of Ambassadors in Pinstripes: The Spalding World Baseball Tour and the Birth of the American Empire

Author Bio

Andrew J. DeRoche teaches history at Front Range Community College in Longmont, Colorado. He is the author of Black, White, and Chrome: The United States and Zimbabwe, 1953-1998 (2001).