Reviews:
-This work argues that the racial identity of Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice, the first African Americans to be appointed to their positions, helped shape the presentation of the hegemonic foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration, but played very little role in the actual formation of that policy. Author Lusane suggests that they played a game of racial affinity that was used to justify a more dangerous foreign policy and to distract from their more substantive roles in policy formation. Along the way, he provides a history of African American attitudes towards foreign policy, examines the 2001 UN World Conference on Racism as a case study on the intersection of race and Bush foreign policy, and details the role of Powell and Rice in bringing us the Iraq War.
—Reference & Research Book News
-[R]eveals how many Blacks presumably feel, and it therefore it performs a public service.
—WAIS
-Lusane analyzes the impact of race on U.S. foreign policy by examining how former Secretary of State Colin Powell and current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have constructed current policy. He argues that African Americans have a long history of participating in U.S. foreign policy and that blacks serving in foreign-policy posts in previous administrations have embraced their racial identities and stressed racial equality in the world. This, he writes, was owing to the historical racism experienced by blacks in the United States. According to Lusane, Powell and Rice have not embraced their racial identities unless doing so has promised to advance the Bush administration's agenda; instead, both champion the idea of individualism. This break with tradition has upset many in the African American community....Recommended.
—Library Journal