by Heidi Burgess
July 22, 2022
James Adams, a Vietnam veteran and professional field officer, has extensive on-the-ground experience in peace and stabilization operations with the United Nations and other international organizations in Africa, Kosovo, and Afghanistan. In pursuit of a better understanding of conflict and peacebuilding, he acquired an MS and later a Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University from what is now known as The Carter School. He has combined "peace stories," (like war stories but those of a peacebuilder) with his analytical knowledge in a new book which points out, among other things, that much of what he is seeing in the United States today (in terms of fear and hatred of "the other" and deep political distrust and divisios) is very similar to the social structures and relationships he saw abroad--in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bosnia, Sudan, and Somalia. The book issues a warning--loud and clear--that if we don't start doing our own peacebuilding, the outcome could easily parallel the tragedies experienced in those countries. The U.S. is not at all immune, he asserts.
To learn more about his book, see the book summary he shared with us.