Lessons in Diplomacy review: “Turner’s book is an excellent read…”
It was great to see my book “Lessons in Diplomacy: Politics, Power and Parties” reviewed in H-Diplo recently.
Reviews are always scary. Generally, people who’ve actually bought the book, notably on Amazon, have been generous. But some reviewers, inevitably, just don’t like it. So when H-Diplo, also known as The Robert Jervis International Studies Forum, told me they’d be writing a review in April 2026, I waited with trepidation.
Lessons in Diplomacy review: a good result
In fact, I needn’t have worried. Reviewer Gaynor Johnson, Professor Emerita of International History at the University of Kent, has written a scholarly and thoughtful piece. She notes the book has much to say about the changing role of both international affairs and diplomats.
I’m particularly grateful for the summary, which reads as follows:
Lessons in Diplomacy also reveals a great deal about the type of people who are diplomats today and what their priorities are. Turner’s book is an excellent read; its contents well-written and engagingly presented. It will be of as much value to a general reader of travelogs as to his fellow diplomats or to scholars of diplomacy. And it leaves one wanting to dig deeper into the issues he raises. There is an accessibility to his approach that ably manages to explain complex diplomatic issues without feeling the need to dumb them down.
Good to hear.
To read the review in H-Diplo, click at the link above, or here.
Lessons in Diplomacy Review in “New Eastern Europe”
Another recent review came out in March 2025 in the magazine New Eastern Europe. The author was Jonathan Hibberd, a doctoral researcher in international relations at the University of Nottingham. Its summary reads:
Diplomacy’s role in the past three and a half decades of Central and Eastern Europe’s history is sometimes underplayed, sometimes misunderstood, and sometimes, for good reason, kept secret. Leigh Turner, a former British diplomat and ambassador to, amongst other places, Ukraine, gives a thoughtful, entertaining and informative insight into what role it really plays.
Having worked in Ukraine, Hibberd gives a very personal review. I particularly appreciated the following passage:
Whilst working for the British Council in Kyiv I taught courses to local embassy staff. My visits to the embassy were routine but my mind occasionally wandered whilst within those walls: what does go on in here? At that time, Turner hosted receptions open to all the various Brits that had somehow found themselves in Ukraine, and their partners. What made an impression on me at the time was Turner’s attentiveness to all the guests, regardless of status.
You can read a lot more about diplomatic receptions, including how to be invited to them, in the book.
What to do next
Do feel free to have a look at Lessons in Diplomacy. To see all my books, click on the banner below. They include both fiction and the German version of “Lessons in Diplomacy”.
