Beyond Bin Laden

James A. Baker III has served in senior government positions under three United States presidents. He was the nation’s 61st secretary of state from January 1989 through August 1992 under President George H. W. Bush. During his tenure at the State Department, Baker traveled to 90 foreign countries as the United States confronted the unprecedented challenges and opportunities of the post–Cold War era. His reflections on those years of revolution, war, and peace—The Politics of Diplomacy—was published in 1995. Baker received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991 and has been the recipient of many other awards for distinguished public service, including Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson Award, the American Institute for Public Service’s Jefferson Award, Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government Award, the Hans J. Morgenthau Award, the George F. Kennan Award, the Department of the Treasury’s Alexander Hamilton Award, the Department of State’s Distinguished Service Award, and numerous honorary academic degrees. His memoir—Work Hard, Study . . . and Keep Out of Politics! Adventures and Lessons from an Unexpected Public Life—was published in October 2006.

Karen Hughes is the bestselling author of Ten Minutes from Normal. A former counsellor to the President of the United States, she served under George W. Bush for his first eighteen months in the White House and as his communications director since he first ran for Governor of Texas in 1994. During her tenure in the Bush White House, Hughes advised the president on a wide range of issues, crafted the communications and message strategy for the administration and was responsible for overseeing the Offices of Press Secretary, Media Affairs, Speechwriting and Communications. A former Executive Director of the Republican Party of Texas and television news reporter for KXAS-TV, the NBC affiliate in Dallas/Fort Worth, Hughes now serves as the Worldwide Vice Chair of the public relations and communications firm Burson-Marsteller.

Eric Conger is the winner of a Golden Earphones Award and Publishers Weekly’s 2001 Listen Up Award for Chosen Prey. He can also be heard on the John Sandford audiobooks Storm Front, Mad River, and Shock Wave.