John Brady Kiesling is a former U.S. diplomat and the author of ''Diplomacy Lessons: Realism for an Unloved Superpower'' (Potomac Books, 2006) and the ToposText classics/archaeology mobile application.

Diplomat

An archaeologist/ancient historian by training, Kiesling entered the foreign service in 1983. He supported the multilateralist foreign policy of former President George H. W. Bush and the limited purposes of the 1991 Gulf War. He served in Israel, Morocco, Greece, Washington, and Armenia, returning to Athens as chief of the political section of the U.S. Embassy in 2000. He was the first of three U.S. foreign service officers to resign, on February 25, 2003, to protest against the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including ...

. His letter of resignation to Secretary of State

Colin Powell Colin Luther Powell ( ; April 5, 1937 – October 18, 2021) was an American politician, statesman, diplomat, and United States Army officer who served as the 65th United States Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005. He was the first Africa ...

was posted by ''The New York Times'' and circulated widely.

Writing

After his resignation, he spent a year as a visiting fellow/lecturer at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

, and then returned to Athens. Until May 2009, he wrote a monthly column called "Diplomat in the Ruins" in the "

Athens News ''Athens News'' was an English-language newspaper published in Greece. The paper had regular sections covering aspects of Greek news such as politics, social issues, business, arts & entertainment and sports, as well as international news. Featur ...

" in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

. Kiesling wrote ''Rediscovering Armenia'' (2003), an open-access guide to Armenia; ''Diplomacy Lessons: Realism for an Unloved Superpower'' (Potomac Books, 2006); and ''Greek Urban Warriors: Resistance and Terrorism 1967-2014'' (Lycabettus Press 2014). The latter is a "meticulous" history of

Revolutionary Organization 17 November Revolutionary Organization 17 November ( el, Επαναστατική Οργάνωση 17 Νοέμβρη, ''Epanastatiki Organosi dekaefta Noemvri''), also known as 17N or the 17 November Group, was a Greek far-left Marxist–Leninist urban ...

, the Greek terrorist group active from 1975 until 2002. He and the

Plaka Pláka ( el, Πλάκα) is the old historical neighborhood of Athens, clustered around the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis, and incorporating labyrinthine streets and neoclassical architecture. Plaka is built on top of the residenti ...

neighborhood of Athens are described in pages 38–46 of Eric Weiner's ''The Geography of Genius''

Personal life

Kiesling lives in Athens, Greece, and "his happiest moments…are spent tramping over remote, thorn-covered hillsides or as an archaeological volunteer (Ancient Corinth 1980, Ancient Nemea 1981, Vorotan Armenia 2007, Aphrodisias 1982, Zagora 2014, Methone 2015). His current interests include ancient Greek religion and Greek topography." Kiesling is the father of the novelist and critic

Lydia Kiesling Lydia Kiesling is an American author and literary critic. Her debut novel, ''The Golden State'', was published in September 2018 by MCD Books, a division of Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. From 2016 to 2019 she was the editor of the San Francisco-based ...

Publications

*''Rediscovering Armenia: An Archaeological/Touristic Gazetteer and Map Set for the Historical Monuments of Armenia.'' Yerevan: Tigran Mets, 2001. . () 2nd ed. Matit, 2005. . *''Diplomacy Lessons: Realism for an Unloved Superpower.'' Washington, DC: Potomac, 2006. . *''Greek Urban Warriors: Resistance and Terrorism 1967–2014.'' Athens: Lycabettus, 2014. .

Diplomat

Writing

Personal life

Publications

References

Further reading