Attachà Case: Backstage at the Embassy

"The Kitchen Confidential of the State Department."

You've seen them on the news, looking competent and concerned in their navy suits. They're in Beijing, Riyadh, Nairobi, Geneva, and of course Washington, DC. They look uneasy on camera. When they speak (which is as little as possible), it's with caution, hemmed in by protocol and the fear of causing an incident.

These are the diplomats.

Opening up a famously tight-lipped profession, State Department veteran Todd Pierce takes you backstage at the embassy, sharing what it's like to serve as a working-level diplomat.

Funny, revealing, pointed, and deeply human, Attaché Case tells what it feels like to represent the celebrity country-the US-a place everyone thinks they know and has an opinion about.

TODD PIERCE was born in California and grew up in Maryland and Connecticut. After studying at Stanford and Yale, he joined the US Foreign Service. He spent 26 years as a diplomat, with postings in Greece, Ghana, Albania, Burma, Turkey, Switzerland, and Washington, DC. In 2018, he retired as a member of the Senior Foreign Service. He lives in Florida and Greece.

WYATT DOYLE is ringmaster of New Texture, and he edits and designs most releases. His own books include STOP REQUESTED (illustrated by Stanley J. Zappa), DOLLAR HALLOWEEN, I NEED REAL TUXEDO AND A TOP HAT!, BUTY-WAVE IS NOW CLOSED FOREVER, and JORGE AMAYA DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE. A retrospective of his photography was presented by Gallery 30 South in Pasadena, CA. With Robert Deis, he edits The Men's Adventure Library series, exploring vintage pulp fiction, illustration art, and history. With Jimmy Angelina, he created THE LAST COLORING BOOK and THE LAST COLORING BOOK ON THE LEFT, as well as BE ITALIAN. Together with Hal Glatzer and Norman von Holtzendorff, he produced THINGS THAT WERE MADE FOR LOVE, collecting the Jazz Age songsheet art of Sydney Leff. He assisted in the publication of Georgina Spelvin's memoir, THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT, and published Josh Alan Friedman's BLACK CRACKER and TELL THE TRUTH UNTIL THEY BLEED via his Wyatt Doyle Books imprint. He administers the creative estate of Rev. Raymond Branch, and curates RevBranch.com. His screenplay with Jason Cuadrado, I'M HERE FOR YOU, was produced as DEVIL MAY CALL. A member of The Stanley J. Zappa Quartet, a recording, THE STANLEY J. ZAPPA QUARTET PLAYS FOR THE SOCIETY OF WOMEN ENGINEERS, has been released.